


Haunted Vacation

by pinkhairnoshoes



Series: Daddy, Papa, and Me [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adopted Peter Parker, Artist Steve Rogers, Corporal Punishment, F/M, Ghosts, Horror, Hurt Peter Parker, Kid Peter Parker, LLF Comment Project, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Near Drowning, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Past Child Abuse, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter is a Little Shit, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Scared Peter Parker, Superfamily (Marvel), Superhusbands (Marvel), Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-08-09 01:44:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16440683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkhairnoshoes/pseuds/pinkhairnoshoes
Summary: Tony and Steve invite Ben and May on a vacation to a cottage upstate. It's a good chance to disconnect from technology and enjoy the summer out in the country. The house seems normal enough until Peter starts having nightmares and seeing ghosts. Unexplained things are starting to happen. Steve and Tony are getting increasingly frustrated waking up to things being out of place or damaged. Peter is getting increasingly worried when he wakes up with dirt and grass on his feet but no memory of leaving his bed. The adults assume Peter is acting out for attention. They don't see the ghosts or notice that the house is having an effect on them too.





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting in this fandom. Please be gentle. I wanted to write something scary for Halloween. My fiancée beta read this so hopefully there aren't too many mistakes. I think it's your standard Superfamily. Tony and Steve adopt Peter when he is six.

“Dad—” Peter drew out the word, “are we there yet? How much longer?”  
Tony and Steve both glance into the rearview mirror back at their son slouched down in his seat. “A few more hours baby. Do you need a pee break?” Steve asks.

Peter rolls his eyes and huffs. “I’m not a baby.”

Steve smirks over at Tony. “Do you have to pee or not?”

“We stopped an hour ago. He’s fine,” Tony complains from the driver’s seat.

Peter turns around in his seat and looks out the back window. “I can’t see uncle Ben’s car.”

“Maybe they stopped somewhere.”

“I’m hungry. Can we stop for snacks?”

“We’ll stop at the grocery store before we get to the house. You can get snacks then.”

 

**

It’s dark by the time they get to the house. The tires rolling over the gravel driveway wakes Peter up. He hears the slamming of car doors and his uncle Ben’s voice.  
“You leave the boy at a rest stop?”

Steve pulls the backdoor open and unbuckles Peter’s seatbelt. “Come on son wake up.”

“I’m awake,” he mutters as he stumbles out of the car. His aunt and uncle come up to hug him. Tony and Steve are already heading inside to open up the house. The owner had left instructions for turning on the well pump and turning up the temperature on the hot water heater. They make quick work of getting all the bags inside and settled into their rooms. Peter’s room was definitely a kids room with two twin beds in it. The style was dated with honey wood and floral comforters.

Peter ran excited through the place checking out the other rooms. Startling his aunt as she was unpacking her suitcase. He doesn’t stay long offering a quick apology before he bounds into his parents room. The lights are off and their suitcases shoved into the corner. Peter turns on the light and is envious of their king size bed. It has the same dated style. He notices the ensuite bathroom and heads in there. “How many bathrooms are in this place?”

“Two,” Steve answers as he enters that bathroom with some towels that he places in the cabinet.

“Oh,” Peter says softly.

“Did you unpack your suitcase?”

Peter hesitates before admitting bashfully that he hadn’t. Steve grabs his shoulders and leads him back to his bedroom. Hefting his suitcase up onto the dresser and unzipping it. He opens the top drawer and starts to move Peter’s clothes into it. Peter stands off to the side with his arms crossed. Knowing if he tries to help Steve will only tell him he’s in the way. His father’s parenting style could be described as smothering and over-protective. It’s not always something that Peter minded. He never has to pack his own suitcase or in this case have to unpack it. Steve is always up for cuddling and never scolds Peter telling him he’s getting too old. It balances with Tony’s more hand-off approach to parenting. Together they average out to one normal parent.

“Not going to help?” Steve asks turning towards him. “Noticed you ran off when I was unloading groceries too.”

Peter smiles guiltily and wraps his arms around Steve’s waist. Steve cards his fingers through Peter’s soft brown curls. “Dad and I are going to watch some tv. Are you going to join us?”

Peter cuddles up between his two dads on the sofa. Ben and May are cuddling on the loveseat. He starts to feel tired halfway through the movie. Tony nudges his shoulder and tells him to go to bed. He stares sleepily at Tony before closing his eyes and cuddling into Steve. Peter lets out a whine as Tony pulls him away from Steve and nudges him up off the couch. “Go on. Get to bed.”

Peter turns and climbs onto Tony’s lap, planting a kiss on his father’s cheek. “Goodnight Daddy.”

“Goodnight buddy.”

Peter moves onto Steve’s lap and kisses him too. He jumps off the couch and runs up to May and Ben. Kissing his aunt and uncle next. May giggles and pulls him into a tight hug. “We get goodnight kisses too Ben. Isn’t that sweet? You two are raising such a good boy.”

Peter cuddles into her and closes his eyes. Resting his head on her soft breasts and threading his small fingers through her hair. He wondered if this was what having a mother was like. He wishes he had more memories of his parents. Mary and Richard Parker. It was all bits and pieces. Steve and Tony have been his parents for three years now. It was strange living in their house at first. He assumed it would be like the other homes and he wouldn’t be there for long. Now it just felt so natural. He was happy having his two dads. He opens his eyes, “I want Aunt May to put me to bed.”

Peter climbs off her lap and reaches for her hand. Steve nods at her letting her know it’s ok. May walks him to this room and pulls the covers down so he can climb in. She tucks the covers around him tightly. “Night light,” he says sleepily to her already starting to doze off. She looks around the room until she finds it on the dresser. It was small and in the shape of a fox. It let out an orange glow when she turned it on. “I love you Aunt May.”

May smiles down at him and leans in to kiss him. She was impressed with the way they were raising her nephew. She and Ben had been much too young when the accident happened. They were seniors in college not even engaged yet. They were doing internships on top of school full time. There was no way they could take care of a child. It was hard on Ben seeing him move from foster home to foster home. It had been painful when they found out the adoption was going through. The Starks had been nothing but wonderful to them though. Peter had even done a couple over-nights at their home. She was glad they accepted the invite and were getting a whole week to spend with their nephew. He was really thriving and happy. “I love you too kid,” she says softly as she leaves the room, closing the door softly.  
                                                                                                    

**

Peter wakes up and can’t see a thing. His nightlight has gone out. No light coming in from under the door or through the curtains. His breathing quickens and he tries to cry out but no sound comes. Try as he might he can’t even move his finger. His eyes stare straight up at the ceiling. The nightlight turns back on suddenly spreading it’s orange glow across the ceiling. He hears the closet open but can’t turn his head to look towards it. Slowly a woman in a white dress with black hair climbs out of the top of closet and across the ceiling. Her long hair hanging down through the air. Her skin is pale and she stops above his bed and twists her neck around so she can see him. Again he tries to scream but he’s unable. He wanted Papa, he would use his super strength to send her back where she came from. He wanted Dad and his Ironman suit to fight the creature. They wouldn’t come they didn’t know he was in distress. Tony’s AI wasn’t wired up to the house to alert his parents that he was getting scared.

Instead Peter had no choice but to stare up at her pale face, her lips blue and her eyes white. White and dead like the fish Steve had caught the last time he took Peter fishing. The eyes scared him and he kept asking why they looked like that. Suddenly the figure pounces down on him like a cat, hitting his stomach hard causing him to gasp. He sits up and screams as loud as he can. The figure dissipates into a black cloud. Peter doesn’t wait to see what happens next he jumps out of his bed, tangling his legs in his sheets and slamming his knees hard into the wood floor. He pulls himself up and runs for his door pulling it open and racing down the hall to his parents bedroom. He launches himself onto their bed and dives into Tony’s arms. Both his parents are sitting up in bed seconds away from getting up to check on him. He bursts into tears as he buries his face into the crook of his father’s neck.

“Shh you’re alright,” Tony consoles him and looks over at Steve worried. Steve is scooting over closer to him and wrapping his arm around them. 

“Another nightmare?” Steve asks.

“It’s real,” Peter mumbles as he pulls back from Tony.

Tony rubs his back, “it was just a dream.”

“No. I was awake and I couldn’t move or scream. She had dead eyes like the fish.”

“Baby sometimes we think we’re awake but we’re not. You were still dreaming,” Steve tries to explain

“No! I’m not lying,” Peter starts to shout.

“Hey hey. We believe you baby. Papa is going to go check your room,” Tony says before kissing his forehead. “Right?” he asks turning to Steve.

Steve gets out of bed, “I’ll go check.”

He returns a few minutes later and Tony has got him calmed down and settled in the bed. Steve gets back into bed and looks over at the two. He gives Tony a kiss before leaning down to place one on Peter’s chubby cheek. “I didn’t find anything in your room. You ready to go back to sleep?”

“I want to sleep in here. Will you hold my hand?”

“Of course,” Steve answers as he rolls on his side and slides his hand over to Peter’s small one. Tony was on his side facing his husband, Peter curls up against him like a little spoon. Peter felt safe with his two dads so close and he was able to fall back asleep. No more bad dreams came that night.

                                                                                                    

**

The next morning, Peter is excitedly getting dressed and thinking about the day they’ll spend in town. He’ll get to play in the park and get candy or ice cream. Maybe he would get both things and a new toy. They would be going into a lot of shops. 

“I’m ready to go,” he announces as he runs into the living room. Aunt May and Uncle Ben already have their shoes on and Aunt May is packing some things into her large purse. He notices that Tony is missing and Steve does not have his shoes on yet.

“Where’s Daddy? Papa you have to put on your shoes. Let’s go.”

“Daddy has to take a work meeting and can’t go into town.”

“No! Daddy isn’t supposed to work! It’s vacation.”

“I know Pete. But you don’t want Daddy to be stuck all alone, do you? So we’re going to stay home with him. I have my painting I’m going to work on.”

Peter’s face falls as he processes the news. He goes determinedly over to the shoe area and sits down. Putting his shoes on and choosing to ignore Steve. “No Daddy. You said we’re going into town so we’ll go into town.” He does that when he’s excited or frustrated, calling them both Daddy and not bothering to differentiate between the two. They were his parents and should know by some intuition who he was talking to.

“No Peter we’re not. We’re staying here.”

Peter takes off the shoe he hasn’t finished tying and throws it across the room in Steve’s direction. “You’re a liar! I hate you!”

The words sting even though Steve knows he doesn’t mean them. It’s just a kid upset he’s not getting his way and lashing out. He pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration and takes a deep breath. “We do not throw things. Get over here and pick up your shoe.”

“No!”

“Peter, don’t make me repeat myself.”

Ben and May were looking like they were getting scared off from having children. Standing frozen in the doorway, May still had her hand in her purse. They were looking like they had no idea what to do. To leave and let Steve deal with it? To stand in silence and wait for the child to calm down? Peter begins to cry loudly when he realizes he’s not going to get his way. He reluctantly goes to grab his shoe and just lies on the floor with it in his hand. Tony knocks on the window of the sunroom signaling to Steve that he needs to get the noise under control.

“Peter we’ll do something this afternoon,” Steve promises but it does nothing to calm the child.

Ben clears his throat and says, “we can take him with us. Into town.”

Peter immediately stops crying and sits up. “Can I go?”

Steve raises his eyebrows at the young couple, “you sure you can handle this?”

“I’ll be good Papa. Please let me go,” he begs looking up at Steve.

“I shouldn’t let you go after how you acted.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll be really good for Aunt May and Uncle Ben. I promise.”

“Get your shoes on and go. You better be on your best behavior.”

Peter quickly puts on his other shoe and races out the door. May heads out the door to keep an eye on him. Ben walks into the kitchen to grab the cooler they had packed for lunches.  
“Let me put the lunch I packed for him in there. You’ll have to make him sit down to eat. He’ll keep playing if you let him. Make sure he eats at least half of it,” Steve says as he moves the food to their cooler. Ben zips it up and starts to head out the door. “He’s a runner. You’ll have to watch out for that. He wanders in stores. You really have to keep an eye on him. He will disappear on you.”

“We will,” Ben assures him as he steps outside the screen door slamming behind him.

Tony looks up as Steve enters the sunroom and starts to set up his easel and canvas. Tony puts his pointer finger over his mouth indicating to Steve that he needs to be quiet. Steve mouths to him that he will be. Setting a bag on the table he takes out his paints and wooden palette. The house backed up to a forest and he was planning on painting it. It was early in the day and light was still good for painting. He squirts some paint on the palette and starts to mix some colors.  
                                                                                                    

**

A few hours later, May and Ben along with Peter are returning from town. Disrupting the quiet peacefulness of the house as they come inside. “We gave him sugar. I’m sorry. Didn’t think it through. You load them up with sugar and then drop them back at home—” Ben explains as they walk in the door.

“I put a stop to it,” May says handing a bag of candy from the bulk store downtown to Steve. Peter comes running into the house.

“I want my candy,” he says reaching for the bag in Steve’s hands. Steve pulls it out of his reach and walks into the kitchen to put it on top of the fridge.

“You brought our son back in one piece. Thank you,” Tony says to them from his spot on the couch. He was lying on his back looking exhausted.

“You feeling alright?” May asks concerned.

“Headache.”

“Have you taken something for it? I have medicine in my room,” she asks as she heads down the hallway.

“I’m good.”

Steve goes into the living-room and sets down a glass of water. Tony peeks out from under his hand, “that’s not coffee babe.”

“You need water not caffeine.”

Tony reaches out and pinches Steve’s butt causing him to turn around and slap Tony’s hand. He laughs and shakes his head before sitting on the coffee table. He’s about to tell Tony he’s an asshole just as Peter comes in the room. Peter climbs up onto Tony’s chest and sits on top of him. “Are you sick Daddy?”

Tony shakes his head. “Let me check Daddy. Open your mouth. We got to take your temperature. Papa get me the thermometer.”

Peter pushes up one of Tony’s eyelids. “Your eye is attached.”

Tony pushes his hand away. “My eye is attached. Thanks Dr. Stark. Good observation.”

Peter giggles and looks back over at Steve. “I need to take his temperature stat.”

“Oh. I’m supposed to go get it?”

“Yeah, you’re the nurse. So you grab things for the doctor.”

Steve humors him and returns with the first aid kit that he always brought along on vacation. He opens it up and digs around until he find the thermometer under the band-aid. “Should we clean this before putting it in Daddy’s mouth?”

“Obviously. It’s good you’re pretty.”

Both men burst out laughing and Tony denies that he’s ever said anything like that in front of Peter. Steve shakes his head as he tears open an alcohol swab packet and cleans off the tip of the thermometer before handing it to his son. Tony gives Steve a look before he opens his mouth. Peter a little excited jams it in. “Ow! Fuck! Peter!” Tony sits up and moved his jaw around.

“Tony! Language!” Steve scolds.

“Sorry it hit that sensitive spot under my tongue.”

Peter holds the thermometer and looks down crestfallen. 

“It’s alright buddy,” Tony assures him as he rubs his arm. “We’ll try again. You have been gentle when you put something in someone’s mouth.”

Tony smirks at Steve thermometer hanging of his mouth and Steve blushes back at him.

                                                                                                    

Peter follows Steve out into the sunroom, climbing into his lap as he sits in one of the lounge chairs. Steve wraps his arms around him and comments on how cuddly he’s being today. Ben is out on the deck grilling ribs. Tony is keeping him company. May is in the kitchen preparing macaroni and cheese and corn on the cob. She refused any help from Steve and sent them out of the room. 

“Is that your painting?” Peter asks pointing to the canvas across the room. Steve was about halfway through he would be adding more details to it later that evening or tomorrow if he had time then.

“You tried your best Papa,” Peter says softly.

“I tried my best?” Steve says laughing. “You don’t think I did a good job?”

“I think you did your best.”

Steve continuing laughing and thinks about how Tony is rubbing off too much on their son. He wasn’t even sure if the kid understood that we was being sarcastic. “You know that’s not a nice thing to say. It’s like an insult.”

“It sounds nice though. I’m being nice.”

They’re summoned to the kitchen when dinner is all done. Everyone gathers around the table and begins to eat. “This is really good,” Steve comments.

“Thank you,” May and Ben both say.

“No-one ever cooks for me anymore. I’m always cooking for us. Tony tried to cook once—”

“Shut-up,” Tony cuts him off.

“No listen. He tried to make chicken. And he thought it was like a steak. So he cooked it medium and tried to serve it. Whatever medium is for chicken. It was pink and I had to throw it out.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Captain America doesn’t lie,” Steve counters back.

“Is the tooth fairy real?” Peter asks.

“Yes.”

“But I pretended to be asleep and Daddy put money under my pillow.”

“We’re raising a mini Tony. Maybe it’s time for you guys to take him back.”

“He’s a mini version of you. Plus you stress out if we leave him alone for the night. How many times did you call the babysitter last time?”

Steve shakes his head, “fine you’re right.”

“We’re happy to watch Peter anytime you need. But Ben and I have decided we’re not having kids.”

The conversation feels like it’s taking a too serious tone so Steve tries to think of how to change the subject. “Back to the chicken incident.” Steve continues talking about Tony’s cooking mishaps and they end up laughing through the rest of dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and likes. I'm hoping to keep updating this on a weekly basis.

Steve opens his eyes and looks over at Tony’s sleeping form knowing it will be a couple more hours until he woke up. His husband was by no means a morning person. It actually worked out well for him. He could wake up and have his coffee, taking his morning to himself until their son woke up. That was if Tony wasn’t still up from the night before. It was easy for him to get lost in work, locked up in lab and not realize the time. Peter hadn’t come to their bed last night so Steve was relieved he didn’t have another nightmare. He was probably just nervous about being in a new place. Steve gets out of bed and heads into the kitchen. He grabs a cup of coffee and heads out to the back patio. He finds Ben and May already sitting out there drinking coffee. He joins them sitting on the overstuffed red cushion of the chaise lounge. 

“Good morning,” May says softly, “it’s so beautiful up here. Thanks for inviting us.”

“It’s great having you. Peter is excited for you to be here,” Steve says before drinking his coffee.

“I love cool summer mornings like this. The quiet stillness before everyone wakes up. I’ll be missing the city by the end of the week though.”

“I was looking at a map. There’s a path down to the lake maybe we can walk down there.”

May chuckles, “How far is it? It might be better to drive. Ben and I aren’t exactly outdoorsy types.”

“Neither is Tony. Driving is probably better. I still want to take Pete for a walk in the woods.”

“I’m sure he’ll enjoy that. My parents used to take us camping. Ricky and I when we were boys. He loved it. Being out in the woods like that,” Ben says softly thinking back to his childhood and of his long dead brother.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Steve says softly. Although his thoughts about it were complicated. Mary and Richard had to die for him to have his son. It was a cruel reality. He could never say that he wished it hadn’t happened. He didn’t know what that said about him as a father. Did he really have Peter’s best interests in mind? 

“Steve?” Ben pulls him out of his reverie. “You still with us?”

Steve sits forward in his chair and grabs his coffee from the table, taking a sip. “Yeah, not fully awake yet.”

“Again. Thanks for inviting us. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem. I’m going to wake the kid up,” he says as he stands up and goes back inside. He walks down the hall before slowly opening the door to Peter’s room and peeks inside His child always cocooned himself in the blankets, the only thing sticking out was a tuft of messy curls. Steve sits on the bed and starts to untangle the blankets earning a whine from Peter. “It’s time to get up buddy,” he says softly and Peter loosens his grip on the blankets and lets them be pulled away. He cuddles into his father not ready to open his eyes.

“I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well Papa.”

Steve rubs his back and Peter cuddles more into his body. “More bad dreams?”

“I don’t remember any. Feels like I didn’t sleep.”

“That’s from all that sugar you had.”

“I don’t think so,” Peter says abruptly ending their cuddle session and hopping out the bed. “Is Daddy awake?”

“You know the answer to that Peter and don’t go waking him up.”

Peter doesn’t listen and heads straight for his parents room. He doesn’t turn on the light because he knows Tony will start yelling. Instead he straddles his chest and studies his sleeping face. He reaches out to touch his face but his arm is grabbed roughly before his hand makes contact. Tony loosens his hold and his eyes shoot open. “Pete you have a bad dream?” Tony asks as he pulls the covers back. “Get under the covers. We’ll go back to sleep.”

“It’s morning. It’s time to get up.”

Tony grabs his watch from the side table and glances at it before throwing it back down. 7:30am.

“Peter!” Steve scolds trying to keep his voice quiet so not to disturb Tony more. 

“Daddy doesn’t want to get up.”

Steve picks him up and sets him on the floor. “I told you to leave Daddy alone.”

“It’s fine Steve,” Tony says sleepily as he gets out of the bed. He walks up to Steve and gives him a quick kiss. He reaches down to tousle Peter’s hair before heading into the bathroom and muttering something about not being able to fall back asleep.

Steve leads Peter out of the room. “You hungry? Want some cereal?”

 

**  
                                                                                                  

Peter is transfixed by a cartoon on the television as the adults are busy getting ready for the day and discussing the plan for the afternoon. Ben is sitting at the kitchen table reading the news on a StarkPad. A plate with dirty silverware and a half empty coffee cup sit next to him. May is in the bathroom blowdrying her hair. The sound permeating out to the main living area. Everyone is doing their own thing for breakfast. Steve walks into the room all dressed for the day. He scoops up Ben’s plate on his way to the kitchen. “You done with this?”

“Yes, thanks,” Ben says glancing up for a second.

Steve rinses all the dishes in the sink and loads up the dishwasher. He looks at the empty coffee pot and washes that next. After he tidies up the kitchen he sits on the table by Ben. “We should leave within the next hour.”

“Sure. It won’t take May that long to get ready. I just have to brush my teeth and put shoes on,” Ben says as he starts to bring up the booking information. They were to be at the harbor about forty minutes before their whale watching cruise was to go out. Lunch was part of the cruise and afterwards they were going to tour a few lighthouses nearby. He hoped Peter wouldn’t be too crabby by the end of it. They hadn’t decided if they’ll eat out or return to the house to cook. They discuss the plan for a bit before Steve excuses himself.

Steve decides he has some time to paint before they head out. He goes in the sunroom ready to set up his supplies. He finds one of his favorite paint brushes covered in paint and the cap off of one of the tubes. He puzzles over it knowing he had cleaned it up yesterday. His eyes are drawn to the canvas where a stick figure family is done crudely in black paint. He feels the anger rising in his chest as he tries to make sense of it. Tony walks in the room and lets out a chuckle as he sees it. “Exploring a new style? It looks crude Babe.”

Tony becomes more sympathetic as he reads the upset look on Steve’s face. “Tony, who the hell would do this? Do you think—” he lowers his voice so only Tony can hear, “—May or Ben did it? Like as a joke?”

“No. Hell I can see Clint or Sam doing shit like that. Can you fix it?”

Steve rubs his face and sighs. “I can turn them into trees maybe. It’s black paint, that’s hard to blend into something else.”

Tony looks through the door back into the house. Peter comes into the sunroom and looks up at his parents. “I can’t find my Iron Man,” he says referring to his plush toy. Tony can’t help but smirk at him as he pulls him into a hug.

“I’m right here kid,” he teases before Peter pulls away from him and explains himself again. 

“Pete, did you do this to the painting?” Steve asks him.

Peter looks at it confused before looking up at Steve nervously. He hadn’t done it but he couldn’t help feeling guilty with the way Steve was looking at him. It made him feel like he had misbehaved. He had too many memories while in state care of being blamed for things he didn’t do. Both of his parents were giving him stern disapproving looks. It left him feeling scared and worried. 

“I didn’t do it,” Peter pleads with them. Steve exchanges a look with his husband doubtful that Peter is telling the truth. 

“Then who did it? Am I supposed to think Aunt May did it?”

“Maybe she did,” Peter suggests and Steve gives him a look.“I take that back.”

“Kid,” Tony begins. “Just tell the truth”

“But I didn’t do it!”

“Dammit Peter—” Steve feels his frustration getting the better of him. 

“Hey calm down. I’m the one who loses my temper,” Tony says trying to defuse the situation. Steve glares at him and crosses his arms.

“I’m not lying! Stop yelling at me!”

“Go to your room and think about what you’ve done.”

Peter sits on the ground and starts to cry. “I don't want to! I didn't do it!”

They watch his tantrum for a minute. Looking at each other deciding what to do. Tony leaves the room mumbling something about how he needs to call Pepper about a business deal before they head out. Leaving Steve to deal with it alone.

“Listen baby, look at me—” Steve says tilting Peter’s chin up with his hand. “—You’re not getting in trouble but you better stay out of my things. Understand?” Peter nods at him and seems to calm down a little. Steve sighs and goes to clean up the paint area. Were they doing this wrong? Giving into Peter’s tantrum? He couldn’t stand to watch him cry like that. He was half doing it right, ignoring Peter’s outburst until he calmed down but he wasn’t following through with a punishment.  
    

**  
                                                                                                

Steve carries a sleeping Peter into the house. The long day of activities had worn the child out. He was tired by the time they got to the restaurant for dinner. Not wanting to eat much of his dinner or play with any of the things they packed for him. They were thankful when he fell asleep during the car ride back. Tony walks into Peter’s bedroom with them and pulls back the covers so Steve can set him down. They make quick work of removing his clothes and putting on pajamas. Tony tucks him in tightly the way he likes and smiles over at Steve. “We’re good at this. Didn’t even wake him up.”

Everyone retires to their rooms early. Steve cuddles up to Tony and places kisses down his neck. His hand sliding slowly down his chest and teases the waistband of his boxers. Tony groans. “You know I can’t be quiet. Do you want to scare our guests away?”

Steve laughs before capturing a nipple in his mouth. Tony’s breath hitches. “If you would have let me book the vacation. We’d have a big enough place we wouldn’t have to worry.”

Tony shifts his hips trying to will Steve’s hand to move lower and touch his growing erection. “I’ve been thinking about Aunt Hottie and that tiny sundress she wore all day.”

“Tony! That’s beyond inappropriate!” Steve chastises but his body is speaking another language as his hand teases over Tony’s hardness for a quick second before returning to his stomach.

“You don’t think May’s hot?”

“You’re going down a path you can’t come back from,” Steve warns before moving to nibble on his neck. “Does this mean you want to be on top?”

Tony laughs and Steve starts to kiss down his stomach pulling down Tony’s boxers at the same time. Steve pauses and rests his head against his thigh, “dammit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“You don’t hear it?” Steve says sitting up. “It’s Peter. He’s crying.”

“Just let him cry it out. He’ll be fine.”

“I can’t do this—” he motions towards Tony with his hand, “—while I can hear him crying.”

He waits a moment for his body to get back to normal so he doesn’t go into his kid’s room with a tent in his boxers. He sighs and gets off the bed to go check on him.

Peter’s room is dark when he enters so he goes to the dresser and turns on the nightlight. “You left the closet open,” Peter whines. Steve closes the closet and stands next to his bed. “You didn’t turn the nightlight on! I was so scared when I woke up!”

Steve moves his hair off his forehead, “Sorry. Everything alright now?”

“No,” he whimpers. “Will you stay with me Daddy? Until I fall asleep?”

Steve could hardly say no even with the knowledge that the longer he left Tony alone the likeliness of having sex tonight was plummeting. He pulls back the covers and Peter scoots over to make room for him. Peter cuddles up to his legs and Steve starts to wish he brought his phone or a book with him. Hopefully Peter would fall asleep soon and he he could sneak out.

 

**  
                                                                                                

Peter’s eyes open slowly and his room comes into focus. It’s still night and moonlight is peeking in through the blinds. The orange fox nightlight is still illuminating his room. He tries to move his hand to scratch his nose but it won’t budge. That’s when he notices the hair cascading down next to him. His eyes dart up and there she is, the white dead fish eyes lady. He starts to panic and he’s yelling in his mind telling his body to move. His body won’t listen and her hand is moving closer to him. She touches his face gently in an almost affectionate manner. She turns and looks towards the hallway as if she hears something. With that she starts to float out of the room until her figure just dissipates. Finally he can move again. He screams and cries, afraid to get off the bed, afraid to stay on the bed. He needs to get out of the room.

With a deep breath, he runs out of the room and collides hard into Steve who is on the way to Peter’s room to check on him. He presses his face against Steve’s stomach and starts crying hysterically. “Are you hurt?”

Peter can’t find the air to answer and instead pushes up Steve’s shirt until his skin is touching him. Steve flinches away for a second but stops himself. “Tony, he’s freezing.” It wasn’t a cold night and the cabin didn’t have air conditioning. It was a little on the warm side. Ben opens his bedroom door and takes in the scene. May is standing behind him. Steve picks Peter up and walks back to their room. Tony and Steve sit with him on the bed and try to calm him down. Find out if he’s hurt or scared.

Peter becomes frustrated as his parents won’t believe him about the ghost. It’s the same as the last time he saw her. They keep telling him it was a nightmare, that he wasn’t really awake and he just thought he was. His tears were now out of frustration and he didn’t want to talk to them anymore. But his parents don’t know that and are still fussing over him. He climbs under the covers and so do his parents. Snuggling up to Tony, Peter rests his head on his chest because he’s still feeling cold.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter is worn out from another day of sight-seeing and goes to bed early without much of a fuss. He had behaved pretty well the whole day. They only had the one incident in the morning where he had messed with Steve’s painting again. Instead of throwing a tantrum he sat nicely for his time-out. It was an especially hot day and the heat was holding strong after dark. May and Ben had brought the ingredients to make margaritas.

May has a big smile on her face as they carry in the glasses and set them on the coffee table. It’s followed by chips with salsa and queso dip. The theme tonight was Ninety’s movies and they were starting with The Linguine Incident. “Tony doesn’t drink, but thank you,” Steve says politely as he slides Tony’s drink away from him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I can make you something else. A virgin margarita?”

Tony grabs the drink, “I think I can have just one.”

Steve is suddenly on full alert, thinking back to the days before Tony got sober. There was no such thing as one drink with Tony. He was of course fun at the beginning of the night. Not so much as it wore on, when depending on his drink of choice Tony could turn mean or sad. Steve could only take so many insults before it started to hurt. He could only take so many before he would start yelling back at Tony. Awful fights would occur and lead to awkward apologetic mornings. On the other end there is sad Tony, his mood would dip so low it was impossible to pull him out of it. It would bleed into the subsequent days and ultimately lead to another drinking session.

“Tony, it’s been nine years. You’d throw that out for one night?”

Tony puts the margarita back on the table and leans into the couch cushions. He wasn’t going to admit it but Steve was right. 

 

**  
                                                                                                 

It’s slightly chilly when Steve leaves his room and heads to the kitchen to start the coffee maker. It’s one of those rare morning where Tony is awake and getting ready for the day before him. Tony is already dressed, grabbing keys off the hook and slipping on shoes. “Need anything from the store, hun?”

“The newspaper would be nice. Probably could use more milk,” Steve says as he does a quick inventory of the fridge. 

He walks into the sunroom as he waits on the coffee pot to finish brewing. Watching the sun rise over the trees. His eyes fall on the canvas again. Paintbrushes are out, black paint smeared on his board and brushed all over his painting. Completely blacking it out. Ruined. Unfixable. He grabs it tearing the canvas in half and stomping into the kitchen. Tearing open the pantry cabinet and grabbing a garbage bag. He shoves it in there and makes his way down the hall. “Peter Benjamin Stark,” he yells as he opens his son’s door. Startling the kid who is lying in bed reading a book. Not ready to head out into the main living area yet. Not quite awake just yet. He quickly sits up and looks at his father worried. Wondering what he’s done wrong. “Why do you keep doing this? Are you bored? Do you want attention?”

Peter’s synapses are firing away as he tries to wake his brain up and figure out what his father is upset about. “I—what?—I’m just trying to read.”

“God dammit Peter.” Steve’s words cut through him.

“What?” Peter cries out as he gets off the bed and stands up.

“The black paint. All over my canvas. Every morning this week.”

“It’s not me!”

“Then who?”

“I don’t know!”

Steve grabs the sleeve of his pajamas and points out the paint. All over his right sleeve and on the front of his pajamas. Peter’s eyes go wide and he tries to find a logical explanation. He had not gone anywhere near it. Steve starts to lecture him but he’s not listening that closely. He keeps denying that he’s done anything. Tears are flooding his eyes, too early in the morning to be dealing with being yelled at. Steve must have asked a question because he’s looking at Peter expectantly. His mouth goes dry and the angry look on his father’s face is only making his mind go more blank.

His father finally leaves his room and Peter is lying on his bed, face buried in his pillow, crying. Steve Rogers had spanked him. His parents had never physically disciplined him before. It was always yelling followed by time-outs when he was younger. Now that he was getting older he was typically sent to him room and sometimes grounded if what he had done was bad enough. It had all happened so fast he didn’t even know what Steve was trying to do when he grabbed him. Not until the pain erupted through his body when Steve’s hand made contact. His bottom was still stinging.

Steve sits heavily on the couch and sets his steaming cup of coffee on the table. He reaches for the remote and turns on the local news, leaning back into the cushion. He pinches the bridge of his nose and tries to calm himself down. This was not how he wanted to start his morning. Peter’s cries can be heard over the tv. It’s otherwise quiet with May and Ben having gone to town for breakfast. He looks up as he hears the front door open and sees Tony shuffle inside. Over to the coffee table to drop a newspaper in front of him. “Got you your low-tech news old man,” he teases as he leans in and kisses Steve. He continues into the kitchen and places a brown paper bag on counter. “Is that Peter crying? Did he have another nightmare,” Tony asks but then considers that it’s weird Steve isn’t comforting him and instead letting him cry it out. “He messed with your canvas again didn’t he?”

Steve looks at his over the back of the couch. “Yeah he did. Tony, I--uh I spanked him.”

“You what?”

“Sorry. I know we agreed but he just wasn’t listening.”

Tony walks quickly down the hall and knocks at the door to Peter’s room. Of course Steve would be the one to break their agreement. Considering everything Peter had gone through his few short years in foster care they had decided against physical discipline. 

“I don’t want to see you right now.”

“It’s Dad.”

Peter is quiet for a minute before telling Tony he can come in. He rolls onto his side as Tony sits on the bed. Tony reaches down and wipes his tears away with the heel of his hand. He never really knew what to do when it came to comforting his child. Lord knew Howard was never one to offer comfort. Stark men are made of iron. Tony still held onto this fear of letting other people in. Even his own child, it seemed like everyone he loved would eventually be torn away from him.

“You pissed your Papa off?”

“Yeah. And he’s really mad at me. But you have to believe me I didn’t do it! I know. The paints all over my pajamas but I don’t remember doing anything!”

“You understand that doesn’t sound very truthful.”

“I know,” Peter says blinking away tears.

Tony knew he had to do more than just wipe his tears. Peter was the one to initiate affection. Same with Steve and really anyone in his life. Tony never turned Peter down or chastised him for crying. So unlike Howard but still he wondered if he was even capable of being a good father to Peter. Doing different than his father would have done was a start. It felt awkward but it was just him and his son in the room and his son needed him right now. 

“Move over,” Tony says as he lies down on his side next to his son. “Turn around. Come on. Be my little spoon.”

Peter does what he says and Tony wraps his arm around him pulling him close. He presses his face down into his son’s soft brown curls and inhales deeply. Peter giggles and tries to push his face away. “Why do you do that? Smell my hair?”

Tony laughs but doesn’t offer an answer. Because I love you. Because your smell comforts me.

He had been absolutely terrified the day Peter had come to live with them. He wasn’t good with children. Not knowing what to do around them. Tony feared he would break like glass if he touched him. Steve was much more natural at it and seemed to dive in head-first. Kissing skinned knees and all those some comforts that kids need. Now it felt like Peter had always been in their lives. He was such a part of it. Tony wanted to be there for him .

“Steve is pissed off. But not at you baby. Well he is but he’s still your dad. He’s still in your corner.”

Tony didn’t know if it was something Peter needed to hear but he felt like it could be. He didn’t know what was going through the kid’s head. The adoption agency had recommended taking him to a therapist. Every week they took him and the therapist would chat with them after each session. As much as Peter had made progress towards a normal childhood there were always going to be things lurking just beneath the surface. Losing his parents so young and having to bounce around homes for a couple years. Peter doesn’t respond to his statement but seems to relax a little more in his hold.  
                                                                                                  

**

 

Peter walks down the street exploring. He finds a dog on the property up the road and across the street.* After a bit Steve goes to look for him; walking the property and calling his name. He decides to walk down the road before checking in the woods for his son. He sees Peter rolling around with a husky. He approaches the yard and decides to go up to the door and introduce himself instead of trespassing. He was definitely going to be lecturing Peter about that later. It’s an older couple in their sixties that answers. They introduce themselves as Jerry and Marie Fields. Steve introduces himself. 

“I take it that’s your boy in our yard?”

“Yes. I’m very sorry. Didn’t realize he wandered onto your property.”

“It’s no problem. We’ve been sitting in the sunroom watching him play with our dog for an hour now. Throwing the tennis ball and playing chase. Poor Bailey doesn’t get to play as much. We’re getting too old for it. What’s your boy’s name?”

“Peter.”

“You and your wife on vacation?”

Steve hesitates and wonders if he comes out to this guy and corrects him that he and his husband are staying nearby. That awkward equation gay people run through their head. Is this person homophobic? How will they react?

“My husband and I are staying in the house across the street. With some friends.”

“Your husband. I see. Peter seems to be a good kid.”

The couple walks off of the porch into the yard. Steve follows behind them.

“Staying at the old Miller place?”

“Yeah I believe that’s the house.”

“Hmm…people think it’s haunted.”

“Oh stop!” Marie says as she slaps her husband’s arm. “I’m sure they don’t believe in ghosts. That’s silly.”

“You should keep an eye on your boy in that house. Take it you don’t know the history?”

Steve doesn’t know how to respond so he calls his son over instead. Peter comes running up to him, the dog right on his tail. “Oh Pete. You’re all covered in dirt,” Steve says as he tries wiping dirt from his son’s face with his hands. Peter pulls back and cries for Steve to stop. Steve changes his attention to the dog, scratching behind his ears. “Have you met the neighbors?”

That guilty smile crosses Peter’s face and he admits that he hasn’t. Steve pulls Peter close to him wrapping his arm around him. “We’re going to have a talk later,” he says softly before raising his voice to a normal speaking level. “Jerry and Marie, meet my son Peter.”

Peter shyly offers his hand for them to shake, not leaving Steve’s side. His left hand threading through his fathers belt loop. “Nice to meet you.” 

“Knock on the door anytime you want to play with Bailey. As long as we’re home we won’t mind.”

“Thank you! I love dogs. My dads won’t let me have one. We live in the city and they don’t have time for one. Bailey is your dog’s name? That’s a nice name. What kind of dog is she? She looks like a wolf.”

“She’s a husky.”

“Come on Pete. You’ve taken up enough of the neighbor’s time. Let’s get back home,” Steve says as he leads him back up the road. Calling out their goodbyes before beginning the walk back.

“You can’t do that Peter.”

“What?” he asks looking up at his father.

“Going into someone’s yard like that. You don’t know them. What if the dog wasn’t good with kids and you got bit?”

“I didn’t though. Bailey is a nice dog.”

“Not all dogs are nice.”

“That’s not true. Dogs love everyone.”

“Peter. You could have gotten hurt.”

“I could get hurt walking right now. What’s your point?”

“Do you want a time out?”

“No…”

“Then lose the attitude. You do not go into someone’s yard like that. If you want to pet someone’s dog you have to ask. Now that I’ve met the Millers, it’s okay for your to ask to play with their dog. But you can’t just go to a stranger’s house like that.”

“The Fields, Papa,” Peter corrects.

“What?” Steve asks not comprehending Peter’s sentence.

“The Fields. You said Millers but that’s not their name.”

“You get that you’re in trouble, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Peter says defeated.

“And you’re getting a time out for breaking the rules.”

“But I didn’t know the rules.”

 

**  
                                                                                        

Tony is sitting at the dining room table when they arrive home looking through some paperwork. “Why don’t you tell Daddy what you did?” Steve asks as he walks over to the table and sits down. Peter stops in front of Tony and waits for him to look up. 

“The neighbor’s have a cool dog that looks like a wolf. She’s a husky though. Her name is Bailey and she likes playing fetch. And she chased me around the yard. The neighbors are nice and say that I can come play anytime.”

“Oh wow,” Tony says shuffling the papers together and removing his glasses. “Sounds like you have a new friend.” Steve clears his throat and Tony glances up at him. “Your father and I didn’t know where you were,” Tony says as he takes more serious tone.

“Sorry.”

“And?” Steve questions.

“Sorry and I didn’t ask the neighbor’s permission. I just went into their yard to play with the dog. And Daddy says that isn’t ok but—” he trails off and looks up at Steve expectantly. Not noticing that he’s reverting back to that thing where he doesn’t differentiate his fathers.

“You can go to your room now Peter.”

Peter looks at Tony pleadingly hoping his dad will override Steve’s punishment. “Your father is right. You could have gotten hurt or bit by that dog.”

Peter goes to his room. Steve looks up at the ceiling out of habit and says, “JARVIS start a ten minute timer.” He waits for a response and then it clicks in that they aren’t at home and the AI isn’t here. “Tony, start a timer.”

Tony taps his watch and then tells it to start a ten minute timer. He smirks over at his husband.

“Don’t say it.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Tony replies.

 

**  
                                                                                                    

Peter sits on his bed feeling really bored, absentmindedly swinging his legs. He hated having to sit still in time-out. He wanted to read his book or play with his toys but if Steve caught him he would add more time to the punishment. It felt oddly quiet in the room he couldn’t hear the rest of them in the house. The sound of the closet door opening causes him to go completely still. It wasn’t really happening he tries to convince himself as he slowly watches it opening. It creaked loudly and his first thought is that Steve is going to hear, come into his room and scold him for playing in the closet. More time added. The thought is fleeting when he sees the long black hair move out of the closet. It’s attached the white ghost body of the woman from the other night. Ghosts don’t come out during the day. Not when you’re awake. Peter must have fallen asleep. This couldn’t be happening.

She plants on her feet and lifts her head revealing a face with dark eyes and pale skin. “My son,” the ghoulish creature says. Her voice dry like the crackling of leaves on a fall day.

“Mommy?”

It wasn't Mary Parker but Peter was feeling confused and the word just popped in his head. He didn’t know why he said it aloud.

“No you’re not her.”

He could move, he was awake. He had to get out of the room. She was walking towards him but not in a normal way. There was something wrong with her ankle. She’s getting closer. Peter jumps off the bed and runs towards the door. She was a ghost so he’d pass through her. Right? That wasn’t the case and he’s thrown back hard. His head slamming with an audible thump against the hard edge of the metal bed frame. He holds his breath unable to suck in air. Then it all comes in with a rush and the wailing starts. His door flies open and the ghost is gone. Tony is standing in the doorway looking worried. “Kid, what did you even do?”

“Hit my head,” he whines. 

Tony goes down to his level and pulls him to his chest. “How—Did you fall off the bed? What were you doing?”

“Something was in my room.”

Tony straightens up and looks around the room. Peter is glued to his side. He walks over to the closet and pulls the door open. The closet is completely empty. Nothing to even look behind. 

“That woman was in my room again.”

“There’s nothing there. It’s your imagination. You’re fine.”

Tony leads him into the living-room and makes him sit on the couch. He grabs a bag of peas and a towel from the kitchen. Instructs him to hold it to the back of his head. May is coming inside. “Is he alright?”

She kneels in front of him. “How’d you hit your head sweetie?” She asks him questions as she runs through some checks for a concussion.”Will you let me look at it?” He shakes his head and moves further into the couch. “Peter I really have to check.”

Steve and Ben have wandered inside and are gathering around. Steve sits on the couch and pulls Peter to him. Gently pulling back the improvised ice pack and trying to get a look at the cut. It’s hard to get a good visual with the poor lighting and blood mixed with hair. 

“Does someone have a flashlight?” May asks.

Ben goes to the kitchen to search for one and eventually finds one in a drawer. He returns to the couch and shines it on the boy’s head. Tony returns to the room with the first aid kit Steve always brings on vacation. Peter starts to squirm in Steve’s arms as May cleans up his cut. Steve holds him tighter trying to stop his fussing but it only causes the boy to fuss more. He flails his arms knocking the cotton ball out of May’s hand. “Hey!” Steve scolds. “Knock it off. If you don’t stop squirming I’m going to spank you.” 

Peter cries and attempts to pull himself out of Steve’s grip. “No! Please! She’s hurting me!”

“Peter please! Just let me clean it. It will only sting for a second. I promise,” May pleads softly while her eyes glare at Steve. He was scaring the kid and making things worse.

Tony places a hand on Steve’s shoulder, his skin feeling hot as soon as his hand makes contact. “Steve,” Tony says and it’s all it takes to calm whatever has taken over him. The anger is gone and he’s horrified that he was just thinking about hurting Peter. His son, that’s scared and already in pain. His son, that needs him to make it all better. It was strange feeling and he couldn’t make sense of what had come over him.

May holds out her pinky. “See? I pinky promise. It will only hurt for a second.”

“Ok,” Peter says weakly through his tears and hiccups as he holds out his hand to her. After the pinky swear, it’s a few short minutes for May to get everything and clean. She does her best to bandage it with gauze and tape. “Candy now? I want a sucker.”

Tony goes to the kitchen and grabs the bag of candy from the other day. “What kind you want, son?”

“A green Blow Pop.”

Tony grabs one and replaces the bag on top of the fridge. “What flavor is green?”

“I don’t know. Green?”

“It’s sour apple,” May volunteers.

Tony unwraps it and hands it to Peter who immediately shoves it into his mouth. Tony smiles widely thinking about how he looks like a toddler sucking on a pacifier. Steve seems to be having the same thought because he mirrors Tony’s look. It was the small moments like this that he was thankful for this little family he had built with Tony. He wanted to do everything in his power to protect them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *—My dog wandered off when I was staying with my uncle and found a husky to play with.
> 
> Thanks for reading. I wasn't sure if I would get the chapter out today. I had a very busy weekend but I wanted to keep with my schedule.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's getting difficult to write a story set in summer when the high has been around 4 celcius and it's snowing almost every morning. It was still warm weather when I started the story. I'm making it work somehow. The chapter kept getting longer and didn't want to end. I hope it isn't too long. Thanks for reading.

Steve catches movement out of the corner of his eye as he’s pouring coffee into his mug. “Peter, you up?”

Peter pokes his head around the couch, his brown hair messy and pointing out in all directions. Steve walks over to the couch with his mug, leaning down to kiss Peter’s forehead as he passes. He sets the coffee on the table and turns towards his son. “You want milk or juice?”

“Orange juice.”

Steve goes to the kitchen to pour the cup and hands it to Peter before he sits on the couch by him. He turns on the tv and find an old black-and-white movie. Steve wraps his arm around him and pulls him close. 

“Why you up so early?”

Peter drinks his juice before answering. “You woke me up.”

“What do you mean? You were on the couch when I came out here.”

“Maybe it was Dad. He told me to sleep on the couch.”

“Daddy and I don’t look similar though.”

“But you’re all the way up there,” Peter says holding his hand up to demonstrate. “If I don’t see your face then you’re similar to Daddy.”

Steve is surprised by Peter’s explanation having never stopped to think about how his son would perceive the world. “Daddy and I don’t sound the same either.”

Peter stares into his cup trying to remember the night before. “Hmm…maybe you never said anything.”

It worried Steve and he wanted to talk to Tony about it. Peter’s behavior this whole week had been worrying. He was going to look for the number of the therapist Peter saw the first year after the adoption. Peter puts his cup on the table before settling back into the couch and finding a comfortable spot, resting his head in Steve’s lap and curling his legs up under the blanket. He quickly falls back asleep. Steve disentangles himself from his sleeping son a few times to refill his coffee. The movie ends and the rest of the house starts to wake up.

May is the first one to join them in the common area. Politely, she walks by the couch saying hello and commenting on how cute Peter is when he’s sleeping. Steve smiles warmly at her watching her walk into the kitchen. “It’s the only time he’s quiet and not getting into something. But he’s cute so we keep him.”

“He’s darling,” May says as she pours two cups of coffee. She adds cream and sugar before walking back to their bedroom. Steve could relate with them wanting privacy. He had gotten used to Tony’s lifestyle and staying in luxurious hotels. He would usually spring for the Presidential Suite. Steve had no idea why they would need two floors and floor-to-ceiling windows in a hotel room. They were bigger than this home they were staying in. They would usually have more than enough space for the two of them. This was feeling cramped to him. Strange for a man who grew up in a one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn but life had changed. He had changed.

Steve changes to the news station so he can get the weather report. He knows he could easily pull it up on his phone and know within seconds. There was something nice about timing it just right to catch the weather during the news. Peter whines as he starts the wake up cuddling tighter into Steve before straightening out his legs. Steve squeezes his arm. “You alright buddy?”

Peter sits up and wraps the blanket around himself tighter. “It’s getting warm,” he observes.

“It’s the middle of summer. Take the blanket off,” Steve tells him with laughter in his voice. 

Peter pushes the blanket off onto the floor. Steve sighs and picks it up folding it and placing it on the cushion next to him. He notices dirt and grass caked on Peter’s feet. “Were you outside when everyone was sleeping?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? How did you get mud on your feet? Get off the couch now! You’ve gotten dirt all over it!”

Peter quickly gets off the couch and turns so he’s facing his father. He hangs his head and holds his hands together in front of his body.

“Answer the question Peter.”

Peter thinks back to how the whole thing with the painting went. Even if he didn’t remember going outside he was going to have to tell Steve that he did. His father would get less angry this way.

“I went into the backyard.”

“You know better, ” Steve says getting angry. “You are under no circumstances to go outside like that. Do you understand me?” He grabs Peter’s arm to get his attention and make him look at him. Peter nods at him but doesn’t say anything. Steve lets go of his arm and stands up, moving his hand to Peter’s back and leading him out of the room. He feels frustrated when he sees the hallway bathroom is occupied. So instead he takes Peter into their room and private bathroom. Tony is in the shower and the bathroom is full of steam. “Hey Tony!”

Tony pulls back the shower curtain slightly to peek out into the room. Steve is pulling Peter’s shirt over his head. “Pete has to get in the shower with you. He has dirt all over him.”

Tony shuts the curtain and tells him to go ahead. Peter finishes undressing and gets into the shower. Tony moves to the side so Peter can get under the spray. He quickly pulls him out from under it remembering the cut on his head. “I don’t think you’re supposed to get it wet,” Tony says trying to gently pull off the soaked bandage. Peter cries out in pain and Tony apologizes doing his best to remove the tape without pulling hair. He throws the bandage outside the shower. It hits the tile with a plop. Peter goes to the corner of the tub to grab the soap and washcloth to rinse off the dirt. Tony resumes his shower. 

“Daddy? Do you shampoo your chest hair?”

“No, are you done washing your feet?”

“What do you wash the arc reactor with?”

“Windex, kid,” Tony says as he pulls the shower head from its holder so he can rinse Peter’s feet before he stands back up. 

“Why were you outside without shoes?” Tony asks.

Tony offers his hand and helps Peter up. He turns the shower off and they get out. Tony wraps a towel around him before sending him into the bedroom.

Peter sits on the bed before he notices the clothes Steve must have laid out for him and gets dressed. He find Tony standing in front of the sink, towel wrapped around his waist. He stands next to him watching him in the mirror. “I didn’t go outside but I told Papa I did.”

Tony raises an eyebrow at him as he squirts shaving cream into his hand. Peter holds out his hand and Tony gives him some so he can pretend like he’s shaving. Peter finds his toy razor on the vanity top. Tony starts to carefully shave his iconic goatee. 

“What do you mean?”

“I remember being in my bed and then Papa woke me up and told me to follow him. Then I woke up on the couch.”

Tony was a light sleeper and he knew Steve had not left the bed. “Where did he take you?”

“The woods but then he was really mad this morning. He yelled at me for going outside. Why wouldn’t he remember?”

Tony worries if his next question will only scare the child. “Are you sure it was him?”

Peter sets down his toy plastic razor and focuses on the bag of toiletries on the counter. After a few minutes he reluctantly says that he isn’t sure. Tony turns towards Peter, slipping his hands under his armpits and hoisting him up, placing him on the counter top. He returns to the sink and rinses off his own face and his razor. He dries his face and then stands directly in front of Peter so they’re making eye contact. He uses the towel to wipe the rest of the shaving cream off of Peter’s face. Peter snorts as shaving cream is inadvertently pushed up his nose. Tony hands him a tissue. “What happened in the woods?”

Peter shrugs and avoids looking at his father. Tony squeezes his knee affectionately. “You can tell me anything. You know that? I won’t get mad.” 

“Papa is going to hurt me bad.”

Tony tenses and his mind is racing as he tries to mask any emotion on his face. “No baby, he would never hurt you,” Tony assures him but the doubt is already planting it’s seed. For years he had put his trust in the wrong man. A person he thought had his best interests in mind. Obadiah’s betrayal cut him deeply, made him feel like he could never trust again. Then Steve became his husband and things were good. He opened up and trusted him. One of the few people he allowed into his inner circle. Peter was the only thing pure and good in his life. That wasn’t true, Steve had a strong sense of what was right and always stood up for the little guy. Steve was also pure and good. There was no way he was doing anything to hurt Peter. “Has Papa done anything to hurt you?”

Peter doesn’t answer.

“What happened when you were in the woods?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to go out there again. It was dark and scary. Tell Papa I don’t want to go.”

“I will,” Tony says as he helps him down from the vanity and walks back into the bedroom. Peter goes to open the door as Tony drops his towel and pulls open a drawer to grab underwear. “Shut the door kid! The whole house doesn’t need to see my ass!”

**

 

The car ride is quiet as Tony drives with Steve to the hardware store. Tony had asked May if they would mind watching Peter for a couple hours. He was planning on picking up a few things so he could put a little surveillance into the place. Peter’s stories had been wild and inconsistent. He went outside. He didn’t go outside. Steve took him outside. He didn’t know if it was Steve. He hadn’t fallen after jumping on the bed, the ghost from the closet knocked him into the bed frame. He wasn’t going to be able to build anything as sophisticated as he could if he had his workshop but he was confident it would be better than anything you could grab off the shelves.

Tony wanted to bring Steve with him because they needed to talk. He couldn’t get the things Peter had said about Steve out of his head. Papa is going to hurt me bad. 

“We need to talk about Peter,” Tony starts the conversation not sure he’s actually ready to have it.

Steve rubs his face before staring out the passenger window. “I know.”

“He was upset this morning. He told me you took him out to the woods and it was scary.”

“Tony, I never left the bed and he told me he didn’t know if it was me or you that took him outside.”

“I sure as hell didn’t—”

“You think I did?”

“No. You always wake me up when you get out of bed.”

“Sorry. You’re a light sleeper. I try not to wake you in the morning.”

Tony smiles over at him before returning his eyes to the road. “He wouldn’t tell me what happened when he was outside. In one version he told me he didn’t go outside but he told you that because he was afraid.”

Steve is quiet as he finishes Tony’s thought in his head. Afraid you’ll spank him like you did over the painting. 

“Point being. Steve. He’s all over the place. I can’t keep everything he’s telling me straight. He didn’t destroy your painting but his pajamas were covered in paint. He didn’t go outside but his feet were covered in dirt and pine needles. He told me…he told me that…” Tony pauses not knowing if he can go there. It’s going to start a fight.

“What?” Steve says when Tony doesn’t continue his sentence.

“I’m just worried. Where is this ghost stuff coming from?”

“No idea. But I’m calling the therapist. Scheduling something for when we get back.”

“It’s just a phase, right?” Tony asks as he taps the steering wheel. He wasn’t going to bring up, what Peter had said about Steve hurting him.

**

 

They all head to a town nearby for the afternoon. Peter was excited for the lighthouse tour and wouldn’t stop talking about it as they walk up to it. He’s disappointed that there’s a line to wait in. 

“This line is so long! We’re never going to see the inside.”

Steve crouches down and tells Peter to climb up on his shoulders, letting the kid have a better view. “What are you complaining about? Look at this view of the lake.”

“It’s nice but I want to go to the top of the lighthouse.”

“We will. Wait your turn.”

“I could—” Tony begins about to suggest slipping a few hundreds to the tour guide to let them get to the front of the line.

“No Tony. I know what you’re thinking and no.”

“Fine we’ll do things like peasants.”

“Tony just be normal. For an afternoon, please?”

Peter reaches down and messes with Tony’s hair before trying to grab his sunglasses. He pulls them off and puts them on his face.

“Look at me! I’m Tony Stark!”

Steve laughs and squeezes one of Peter’s knees. “Stop that.” 

Tony just pulls another pair of sunglasses from his pocket and puts them on. “Are you now?”

Peter is excited when they get inside and they have trouble keeping up with him. He’s small so he easily moves around people and get up the stairs quickly so he can get into the lantern room and see the lamp and the lens. It’s a full fifteen minutes before the rest of them catch up. They take the tour as intended listening to the guide tell the history. Tony grabs Peter’s hand when they finally catch up with him. “You run off again and we’re going home.”

“Sorry,” Peter says as he tries to pull Tony outside so they can see the view from the deck. Tony makes him stay inside so he can check out the lamp. He doesn’t put up a fuss because he knows Tony will actually follow through with his threat.

After the lighthouse tour they pick up sandwiches from a local shop and head to the waterfront park to eat. They roll out a picnic blanket to sit on. Tony was feeling decent earlier in the day but after lunch he started to develop a headache. Steve put his arm around, pulls him close and asks,  
“Are you feeling alright, Tony?”

“No. It’s the damn headache again. I was thinking of taking the car and heading back.”

“No Daddy! We can’t leave yet! You said we could get ice cream while we’re downtown,” Peter complains as he walks circles around his parents.

“You can ride back with us Steve. If you and Peter want to stay,” Ben offers.

“That’s actually a good idea. It will give Tony a chance to rest,” Steve says as he stands up. Steve walks with Tony back to the car and kisses him goodbye before rejoining the group.

Tony was hoping he could work on the surveillance equipment while he’s back at the house but he’s barely able to get anything done with the headache. The day wears on as he lies on the couch watching reality tv on an impossibly low volume with the curtains pulled closed. The dark helps to alleviate the pain. It felt like a waste of the day but any time he tried to get up and do something the pain would increase ten-fold.

He does his best to rally when everyone gets home. Peter is excited to see him and starts showing him some toy Steve had bought him. He tells his dad about the drawbridge and about a boy he played with at the park after Tony left. How they went to a small museum after getting ice cream and an old building they took a picture in front of. How he rolled down the grassy hill with the other children. He’s going on and on and Tony tries so hard through the pain to listen. He wanted to know about Peter’s day but he was struggling to keep up. Giving up on listening he pulls his child in close and covers his face in kisses, earning squeals and giggles from him. “Daddy loves hearing about your day. I love you, you know?” Tony was trying. Trying to not be like his father Howard. Trying to let Peter know everyday how much he loved him.

“Daddy, can I go play with Bailey? I want to show Jerry and Marie my new helicopter.”

“I don’t see any reason why not. Go get your shoes on and I’ll walk with you to the end of the driveway.”

**

Steve places the platter of roast carrots on the table and steps back observing that everything is in its place. “Is Peter home yet?”

Tony takes his seat at the table, followed by May and Ben. “I didn’t see him come in.”

Steve sighs. “I’ll go get him. Don’t feel like you have to wait for me to eat.”

Steve knocks on the screen door as he stands on the porch. He can hear the dog barking from within the house and Peter appears at the door closely followed by Marie. It frustrated him that they were letting Peter answer the door. It was never a problem in the tower because no-one had made it that far through security to get up to the penthouse. Also there wasn’t a door just the private elevator. They did stay at the mansion sometimes. The one Tony grew up in but staff would be there days before they even showed up. Someone was always stationed at the gate. The point being in Tony and Steve’s line of work they dealt with dangerous people and anyone could be showing up at the door. The last person they wanted opening the door was their young child. Steve doesn’t comment on it as they invite him in the house.

“Pete, when did Daddy tell you to be home?”

“He didn’t. Can I stay for dinner? They invited me.”

Steve looks over to the dining room the table already set. It looks as though they are in the middle of eating. “We’re having dinner at home. You need to ask us first.”

“I was just going to go home and ask.”

“Well the answer is no. Get your things, we’re going home.”

“But—” Peter starts to say before he looks back at the table. “I don’t want to.”

“Thanks for the invite,” he says addressing Jerry and Marie before turning back to his son. “But Peter has to come home. Son, go put your shoes on.”

“Please. Please. Please let me stay,” Peter begs.

“We’re sorry for the misunderstanding. Peter had told us you were fine with him staying.”

“Did he now?”

“We don’t mind him staying for dinner. We’re actually in the middle of eating, ” Marie interjects as she gestures towards the table.

Tears are forming in Peter’s eyes. “Please let me stay.”

Steve grabs his arm and pulls him out onto the porch the screen door slamming behind them.

“Papa! I don’t have my shoes!”

Steve kneels down so he’s on Peter’s level. “Peter, look at me,” he says as he grabs his chin.

“Why can’t I stay?”

“You have to ask Daddy and me before you accept someone’s invite. We’ve already made dinner at home and everyone is waiting on you. ”

“But Daddy said I could go over and they offered me dinner.”

“So you should have called or came home to ask.”

Steve wipes some mashed potatoes off of Peter’s cheek. He was always a messy eater. He and Tony were baffled how he always managed to get food in his hair. “Since you’re in the middle of dinner I’m going to let you go inside and finish. But don’t think for a minute this is acceptable or that you’re not going to get in trouble. You lied to those people.”

Steve sends Peter inside and walks back to the house. Questioning if he did the right thing or if he should dragged Peter home kicking and screaming. It’s what Tony would have done and he probably would have yelled at the elderly couple for not calling him to confirm if Peter was allowed to stay for dinner. It didn’t seem worth the tears to Steve.

**

Around seven-thirty p.m. Steve goes down to the neighbors to retrieve Peter. The walk home is quiet as Peter worries over the punishment he’ll get for lying earlier. It was different in the tower, his parents didn’t mind if he went down to the common floor without asking. Most of the time he was there if any of the Avengers happened to be in town. If someone was eating lunch or dinner, they would always make a plate for him. Steve and Tony were both busy all the time. It was hard for him to understand why Steve was upset with him now. He’s so deep in thought that he stops paying attention to where he’s walking. He trips on a rock and falls hard onto the road skinning his knees. He starts crying and expects Steve to turn around and come back to him. To comfort him. “Get your ass up,” Steve says as he stops walking and stares back at his son. His voice hard like when he’s commanding his team and not a tone he ever takes with Peter. 

Peter stands up shakily, blood dripping from his knees. The tears flood his eyes and roll down his face as they resume walking. “Stop your crying. There’s barely a cut.” Peter wipes at his tears and tries but it won’t stop. He catches up to Steve and still needing that comfort grabs for his hand. Steve pulls his hand loose and rounds on him, slapping his face hard. Peter’s eyes go wide and he can’t breathe for a second. 

He backs away from Steve and squats down on the side of the road, covering his ears with his hands and squeezing his eyes shut. “That’s not Steve. That’s not your Papa,” he starts to repeat to himself. He was scared out of his mind and his body was telling him to run. He couldn’t outrun his Papa there was no way. He hears Steve’s heavy footfall until his body cast a shadow over him. Peter swallows but refuses to look up at him. He screams as Steve grabs his arm and pulls him up, his free hand instinctively covering his behind thinking Steve is going to hit him. The blow never comes as Steve lets go of his arm and pats his shoulder instead. 

There’s a change in his face, in his eyes, in the way he holds himself letting Peter know that his Papa is back. Steve begins to speak softly to him. “What happened little guy? Did you fall?” Steve asks as he kneels down to assess Peter’s injuries. 

“Do you want Papa to kiss your boo-boo?” Steve blows on the skinned knee before placing soft kisses on both of his knees. Peter’s tears of panic turn to those of relief. He might have been too old for this level of coddling but he really needed it at that moment. Only moments ago he had been terrified that Steve was going to hurt him. 

“Papa, it’s hurts.” 

Steve kisses his forehead. “Let’s get you home and cleaned up. You’ll be feeling better in no time.” Steve accepts Peter’s hand into his time and they walk up the long driveway to the house.

**

“Okay Jesus Crazy Legs! Stop with the rolling around and kicking. I can’t sleep you’re shaking the mattress,” Tony complains as Steve’s movement wake him up yet again just as he’s starting to doze off.

“What did you call me?”

“Jesus Crazy Legs.”

“That’s—that’s disrespectful. Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.”

“I don’t have time to for Irish-Catholic Steve right now. I’m tired. Stop moving.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Obviously dumb-ass.”

“Tony can I talk to you about something?” Steve asks ignoring Tony’s insult.

Steve cuddles up to his side, resting his head on Tony’s chest. “I had a weird feeling earlier today. It felt like I lost a few minutes. I can’t sleep. My brain is trying to figure out what happened then.”

Tony cards his fingers through Steve’s blond locks. “It’s probably nothing.”

“I’m worried though. Peter looked at me so scared. He had fallen and I just assumed he was being sensitive about that. But the more I think about it I think he was afraid I was going to hurt him. Like I was going to spank him for falling. We don’t really know what happened in that house they pulled him out of. Maybe they hit him for things like that. What if he didn’t fall and I hurt him somehow? Because he really looked afraid of me. I can’t live with myself if that’s the case. He’s my little boy.”

“Our little boy,—” Tony groans and shifts under Steve’s weight, “—who loves you and thinks the world of you. ”

“He’s a good kid.”

“He has you wrapped around his finger.”

“I know. I know. I give in to the tantrums.”

“You let him get out of time-out before times up.”

“I haven’t done that recently.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself for losing your temper with him. That’s all I’m saying. You could stand to be more firm with him.”

Steve moves to kiss Tony on the lips, wanted to get the stressful thoughts out of his mind. Placing little kisses against his lips before he presses his tongue inside. Tony groans and rubs his hands up and down Steve’s biceps. Tony breaks the kiss and pushes his husband back. “Sleep! I wanted to sleep!”

Steve kisses down his neck, down his chest, his mouth pausing over a nipple hot breath teasing the sensitive skin. “I miss you,” Steve pleads with him showing a vulnerability he only lets a few people see. Both men look towards the kitchen suddenly as it sounds like something had slid off the counter and crashed onto the floor. They both look at each other uncertain. A few seconds later the same sound and then it repeats again. Until suddenly it sounds like a pile of things crashing into the ground. Steve pushes himself up and quickly grabs his shield from behind the dresser and looks back at Tony. “Stay in here, I’ll check it out.”

Tony is already standing up and putting on his watch, getting ready to transform into Iron Man if needed. “What? Stay behind?” Tony complains as he tries to push past Steve and get to the kitchen first. He flips on the lights and they see all the cabinet doors open. Canned food has fallen off the shelves scattered on the counters and floor. Ben and May enter to room and take in the mess. 

“There’s a logical explanation,” Tony says as he walks up to the empty cabinet and starts to examine the shelves. There was no damage to them they were perfectly in place.

“Maybe an animal got inside,” May suggests.

Steve turns and scans the room, “where’s Peter?”

“Huh?”

“Are all the doors shut? He went outside last night when we were all asleep.”

“Check his bedroom, I’ll check outside,” Steve says as he slips on shoes and heads outside. 

Tony checks the shelf again before heading into Peter’s room. The little boy is curled up around his pillow, eyes squeezed shut unnaturally as if he’s pretending to be asleep. “Pete,” Tony says softly. Peter sits up suddenly and holds his arms out, Tony immediately sits on the bed and pulls him into his lap wrapping his arms around him tightly.

“Hey! May! Ben! One of you tell Steve that Peter is inside.”

Tony kisses Peter’s temple. “What’s wrong? You have a bad dream?”

“He’s angry.”

“Baby, who’s angry?”

“The man. That’s why he made the mess in the kitchen.”

“It’s just a broken shelf. Don’t worry about it,” Tony lies to him as he slowly rocks the child in his arms. There was no reason to tell Peter otherwise. He knew there was a logical explanation and it would become apparent with time. Probably by morning when they aren’t all half asleep. There’s a another crash and Peter buries his face against his father’s neck. Tony can hear May and Ben arguing over something. What were those two doing out there?

Tony kisses Peter’s temple again before instructing Peter to get up so they can go out to the kitchen. Peter reluctantly follows Tony out there figuring it’s better than being alone in his room. He slips his hand into Tony’s and stays a few steps behind him. 

Ben is hauling their suitcase up onto the bed and hurriedly packing their things into it. 

“Ben just slow down,” May pleads with him.

“Help me pack,” he tells her before noticing Tony in the doorway. “I’m sorry Tony but we’re heading home. I’m not staying in this place.”

“Ben! We can leave in the morning. It’s the middle of the night. Stop this,” May argues with him. 

Steve pulls the sliding door open and returns to the house. He puts his shield back in their room.

“Peter’s ok?” he asks as he walks over to them. He kneels down and holds out his arms for his son. Peter goes to him and Steve scoops him up in his arms. “We need to get you in bed.”

He notices May and Ben packing their suitcase and whispers to Tony. “What’s going on?”

“They’re going to start heading home.”

“Ben! This place isn’t haunted! Ghosts aren’t real!” May exclaims.

“I know what I saw, May! How do you explain that can of peas just levitating like that?”

Steve carries Peter to his room not wanting him to hear any more of it. He was starting to grow annoyed with May and Ben. They didn’t need to be saying things like that in front of Peter. It was going to put ideas in his head. His son was already having a hard time this week. Making up stories and having nightmares. He didn’t need to hear the adults discussing ghosts like they were real.

“Can I sleep in your room?” Peter asks as Steve puts him down on his bed.

“Get under the covers Pete.”

Peter reluctantly gets into the bed and rolls onto his side facing away from his father. Steve pulls the covers up and tucks him in. Peter moves away as Steve tries to kiss him. “Don’t want a kiss,” Peter says as he waves him off. Steve crosses his arms and sighs as he tries to ignore the feelings of hurt and anger surfacing from Peter’s dismissal. He felt anger at Tony for waking Peter up and taking him out of his room. He was supposed to check that he was there and that was it. Steve turns off the light and shuts the door leaving it cracked as he exits the room. “Goodnight,” he says and Peter doesn’t respond.

Steve goes to the kitchen to help Tony clean up the mess. He had assumed Ben has come to his senses but the two were outside loading up the car. A few minutes later they hear the sound of the engine turning over and see the glare of headlights through the curtains in the front room. Followed by the sound of the car peeling out of the driveway and down the road. “Why did you wake him up?” Steve asks as he put the last can away and shuts the cabinet.

“Who?” Tony asks not following what Steve is talking about.

“Peter. He’s all upset I told him he had to sleep in his own bed. Why even wake him up?”

“He was awake when I went in the room Steve,” Tony says before he starts walking back to their room. “Do you have to question everything I do as a parent?”

“Tony, where the hell is this coming from?” Steve asks as he follows him down the hallway.

“Just admit it—”

“Dammit Tony! Were you even there when we were talking earlier? I’m just as lost as you are.”

“So now I don’t listen?”

“I’m not doing this. I’m exhausted. I’ll sleep in the other room. It’s available now.”

“Really you’re going to sleep in a bed someone else sweated in? Probably had sex in. You going to lay down in Ben’s dried jizz?”

Steve grabs Tony and shoves him into the wall, his arm pushing up Tony’s chin as he glares into his eyes. The force of his back hitting the wall breaks Tony of whatever is trying to mess with his mind. Steve’s face is so close to Tony’s that his breath from his nose is tickling his lip. Tony closes the gap and kisses him. Steve rejects him for a second before returning the kiss. His hands move to rest softly against Tony’s hips. “Tony I’m so sorry. I don’t want to fight.”

“I know,” Tony says realizing that something was affecting their mood. His mind was far away from ghosts or the house. He assumed it was the lack of sleep or the lack of sex. “Come to bed. Promise I won’t say anything else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
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	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See end of chapter for notes.

“You think I’m beating our fucking kid? Seriously? Where are the bruises Tony? What? I come home from a frustrating day at S.H.I.E.L.D and I take it out on him? I’m not a fucking monster.”

“What the hell am I supposed to think when he comes to me and says that?”

“Trust the man you married.”

“And you would do the same in my shoes?”

“Yes, Tony. Because I’m not accusing you of abusing our son. I know you wouldn’t do it.”

“So. You’re saying if Peter came to you and said I hurt him you would just brush it off? Because that sounds like some Howard-level parenting.”

Steve runs his hand through his hair as his heart starts to thud in his chest. He starts to pace back and forth on the deck. “What the fuck, Tony?”

Tony looks over at him sadly, his mouth in a straight line.

“What now? You don’t believe me…so what next? I leave? Go back to the Penthouse pack up my things and leave?”

“Steve, just—” Tony cuts his sentence short as he hears the sliding door open. He and Steve both turn towards the sound and watch Peter make his way outside.

“Daddy, I want breakfast.”

Steve walks over to him pulling him into a hug and kissing his cheek. “Good morning buddy.”

Tony walks over to them and tousles Peter’s hair. “Hey kid.”

“Breakfast? Please? I’m starving!”

“Sure thing kid. Let’s get inside,” Tony starts to lead him inside but not before exchanging a look with Steve. Their conversation wasn’t over but it would have to wait for another time.

 

***

The rain starts shortly after breakfast as they’re cleaning up. Peter runs over to the window and stares outside. “Oh no! Can we still go to the beach?”

“It’s going to be raining all day. You have to find something to do inside,” Steve says as he hangs up the dishtowel and goes to sit on the couch. Tony is pulling out his laptop getting ready to do some work. Peter runs over to the couch and climbs onto Steve’s legs. 

“I’m bored.”

“Go get your toys out.”

“Will you play with me Daddy?”

“Sure. Go grab your Legos.”

The atmosphere becomes tense as Steve realizes he’s alone with Tony. The conversation from that morning running through his head over and over. They needed to talk to each other. Actually listen and talk everything out. It was something neither of them were good at. It wasn’t going to work if it led to another fight. He gets off the couch and stands by Tony’s chair. 

“Babe,” Steve says using the pet-name he always uses when he’s on Tony’s bad-side.

Tony looks up at him, his fingers still resting on the home-keys of his laptop keyboard. Steve lets out a sigh. “We need to talk, Tony.”

Peter heads back into the room and dumps his Legos on the large rug in front of the television. 

“Later,” Tony says as he closes his laptop and sets it on the side table. He gets up and sits opposite of Peter on the rug. “What do you want to build, kid?”

Steve stares down sadly at the armchair before joining his son and husband on the floor.

“A castle. What does the castle Thor live in look like?”

Tony chuckles and smiles over at Steve, forgetting for a moment that they’re in the middle of a fight. Steve returns the smile and shakes his head. “We haven’t been to Asgard.”

“Can you call him Daddy and ask?”

The two continue laughing and Peter gets frustrated. “What’s so funny?”

“Thor just comes and goes. There is no way to call him,” Tony explains.

Peter looks down crestfallen. 

“You can build any castle,” Steve says trying to cheer him up.

Peter grabs some blocks and starts building. He instructs Tony and Steve on how to build their pieces. Causing his parents to snicker each time he gets overly bossy. A couple hours pass and they have a decent castle going. Peter is starting to run out of pieces. He gets up and walks back over to the window. The sound of the rain pelting the roof drowns out the television and any other noise in the house. The wind is whipping the rain against the windows. Peter presses his face to the window, watching his breath fog up the glass. He glances over his shoulder to see if either of his parents are watching. If he’ll be scolded for mucking it up. He wipes it away with his hand. His eyes focus on something outside. It takes him a minute to realize it’s a young boy about his age standing on the edge of the woods. 

“Dad?”

Peter starts to walk back towards the couch. “Dad? There’s a boy outside. Standing in the rain.”

Tony has started setting up his latest project on the table. He carefully lays out his tools. He looks up as he hears Peter’s voice. “Probably just a kid walking home.”

“But he’s just standing there,” Peter says as he points out the window. Steve looks over the back of the couch.

“I don’t see anyone,” Tony says not looking up from the circuit board he’s working on.

“He’s out there,” Peter says as he runs back up to the sliding door. He presses his finger against the glass. “Right there Dad.”

Steve gets up and joins Peter at the door, looking outside. He puts his hand on his son’s shoulder. “You see him now?”

“Yes!” Peter says getting frustrated.

Steve pulls him close feeling worried, he leans down and kisses the top of his head. There was no little boy standing outside. Peter pulls away from him and starts to open the door. He stops as lightening flashes enveloping the sky in light. Steve grabs the door handle, sliding it shut and locking it. A few seconds later, thunder booms so loudly it feels like the house shakes. Peter is instantly in Steve’s arms burying his face against his stomach. “You’re okay,” Steve assures him as he rubs his back. 

Steve walks with him over to the couch. “We’ll watch a movie and forget about the storm.”

The two cuddle up and Steve flips through the channel until they find something interesting.

“I want Tony,” Peter whispers softly.

“Huh?”

“I want Daddy to watch the movie with us.”

“He’s working on something.”

“But he’s not supposed to be working.”

“You hear that, Babe? Peter wants you to join us.”

Tony grunts in response and keeps working on soldering wires.

“Really, Tony?”

“In a—,” Tony stops mid sentence as the power goes out. He sighs, “It will be back on in a minute. The breaker is resetting.”

“Daddy, we need your light over here!” 

Tony sets his tools down and walks over to the them. Peter stands up on the couch and pulls up Tony’s shirt exposing the arc reactor. Steve sits up straighter and teases his fingers over Tony’s stomach. “I feel better already,” Steve says as he flirts with him before leaning in and kissing his stomach. Tony laughs and pushes his face away. 

“This way of apology might work if you go lower,” Tony says as he pulls his shirt back down. 

“Tony! Don’t say that in front of Peter.”

A loud pounding at the door draws their attention over. 

“Another time,” Tony says with feigned disappointment as he goes to answers the door and the older gentlemen from across the street is standing there in a heavy-duty rain jacket. He has candles and flashlights. “The power will be out for a bit. Thought we’d bring some supplies over.”

“Who are you?” Tony asks. 

Steve walks up behind him and greets the neighbor. “The couple from down the road. Jerry and Marie. Peter plays with their dog,” Steve explains to his husband.

“Oh, right.”

“Please, come in from the rain.” Jerry declines Steve’s offer handling over the items.

“Pretty bad storm rolling through,” Jerry remarks.

Peter squeezes between his parents and greets the neighbor. “How is Bailey doing?”

“She’s hiding under the bed. Not a fan of storms.”

“Me either. The thunder is so loud. And I don’t like how dark it is. The house is creepy.”

“The house isn’t creepy,” Steve says. “Take these candles and put them on the counter.”

Peter sighs and does what he’s told. “So this is your husband, Steve? You didn’t tell us you’re married to the Tony Stark.”

“The one and only,” Tony says dryly not wanting the conversation to turn to Stark Industries or IronMan. He almost considers asking the guy if he wanted an autograph or a picture, as if he’s trudged through the rain for something like that. People always wanted something from him. It was hard for him to accept that it was a just a concerned neighbor. Someone who had befriended his husband and son, and who was genuinely concerned for his family. He’d believe it if nothing showed up in the headlines about his vacation spot tomorrow.

Steve puts his arm around him and kisses his cheek. Tony turns his face and catches Steve’s lips with his own. Peter squeezes between his parents again and breaks their kiss. “Do you want to come inside?”

“No sport. I’m going to head home to Marie. Be safe during the storm.”

“Be careful out there,” Steve says as Jerry turns to leave.

Peter wraps his arms around Tony’s midsection and looks up at him as Steve shuts the door. 

“Daddy when is the power coming back on?”

Tony gives him a quick hug. “Go help Papa set up the candles. It might be a few hours.”

“Will it be back on before night-time?” Peter asks as he grabs a few candles from Steve, listening to his instructions on where to put them. Tony stumbles as he walks towards them. Steve is instantly at his side grabbing him and steadying him. 

“Tony?”

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” Tony says as he tries to pull out of Steve’s arms.

“You’re not. What’s going on?”

Tony rests his head on Steve’s shoulder and tries to regulate his breathing. “Tony, tell me what’s going on?”

“It’s just a migraine. Feeling a little dizzy.”

 

***

Marie greets Jerry as he walks back in the house. “Sue called. Told me she saw that boy wandering in her yard early yesterday morning. No shoes. In his pajamas.”

“Peter?”

“Yes. Did you talk to them? Tell them what happened in that house?”

“No. I get a weird feeling in that house. Let’s invite them over here in the morning. Tell them over some coffee and pastries.”

“He’s a sweet kid. The Miller boy went missing from that house. They have a right to know.”

“His husband is Tony Stark, you know that? Of Stark Industries? IronMan?”

“You’re kidding?”

“Serious like a heart attack.”

“I thought Tony was with that woman he made CEO. Pepper Potts.”

Jerry walks over to their desktop computer and turns it on. “He’s definitely married to Steve. But who is Steve? Do you think he’s an Avenger?”

The computer takes a minute to load up, and a few more minutes for the internet browser to load. He types ‘who is Tony Stark married to?’ in the search bar. Marie is looking over his shoulder as the results load.

“Captain America? Wow. A super hero couple. How did we miss that?”

 

***

 

Peter is struggling to keep his eyes open after lunch. The power has come back on but it’s still quite dark outside. The rain has stopped but the cloud cover is heavy, like it will start again at any moment. Steve is watching him concerned before turning to Tony. “How much sleep do you think he got last night?”

Tony shakes his head as he tries to come up with an answer. “More than you or I.”

“Should we make him nap?”

Tony sighs as they exchange a look. Peter did not do naps. It had been a fight the first year when they tried it. He was in a better mood after his nap but it took him forever to accept that he actually needed one. “You can try.”

Steve scoops Peter up from the recliner and throws a glance to Tony. Peter’s eyes open and he looks around confused. Tony listens to the cries of protest as Steve tries to gently coax Peter to lie down. Steve leaves the room looking defeated and sits down heavily across from Tony at the table. Peter can be heard crying softly from his room. 

“He’d feel better if he would just sleep,” Steve says as he stares at Tony for a second before grabbing his StarkPad. He’d rather scroll through social media than continue their conversation from earlier.

Peter wipes his eyes and rolls over so he’s no longer facing against the wall. He thought he had heard something in his room. He sits up and notices some of his toys in the middle of the room. They were definitely not out earlier. That’s not what catches his attention though. It’s the little boy from outside, sitting there playing with his things. He sniffles and wipes his eyes. “Hello…how did you get in my room?”

The boy looks up at him. “You let me in.”

“But I didn’t. You have to leave. I’m supposed to be napping.”

That’s when Peter notices the dead eye lady in the corner. He jumps off the bed and she starts to walk towards him. Steve always left his door cracked in case he got scared. The door slams loudly as he’s just inches away from pulling it open. He looks back at the ghosts and his breath quickens. His parents would hear the door slamming and one of them would come to check on him. 

“Peter, come sit down with us,” the woman says. She’s joined her son on the floor.

Peter grabs the door knob and tries to pull the door open. The knob won’t turn. He starts screaming and pounding on the door. As much as he screams and cries no one hears him and comes to help.

“Peter,” the woman says in warning as she stands up and walks towards him. Her hair obscuring her face as her porcelain hand wraps around his arm. It’s so cold that it burns his skin. His whole body feels like it has been plunged into ice water. A shiver runs through his whole body and he tries to pull away from her. He feels it before it fully registers in his brain. He’s peeing. It’s wetting the front of his shorts and running down his legs. He screams as loud as he can for his Dads and pleads with her to let him go.

“Peter. You need to be quiet. You’ll wake him.”

She pulls him over to the toys and forces him to sit down. As soon as she lets go Peter immediately tries to stand up. She grabs him and pulls him down to the floor so hard that he becomes dizzy.

“Please,” he begs through his sobs.

“You’ll be like us soon.”

“No! I want my dad! Let me go!”

The little boy holds out one of his toys to him. “Please. I have no-one to play with.”

Peter pulls his knees to his chest and rest his face against them. “Please let me leave.”

“None of us can leave.” She grabs a block and throws it up in the air before catching it. “Your father is so powerful. I’ve never seen energy like that. He holds this anger and it’s so easy to feed off of. I haven’t been able to touch things for years. He doesn’t even get the headaches like the others did.”

“This isn’t real,” Peter says as he looks between them. “I must be asleep.”

She flicks her rest and the all the drawers from the dresser float out before flipping over and spilling the contents on the floor. She returns the empty drawers to their place. She cocks her head to the side as she stares at him. 

“He’ll be pissed when he sees your room. Play with my son and all this gets cleaned up before Daddy comes to check on you.”

Peter lifts his head up and stares at the little ghost boy. “What do you want to play,” he asks shakily.

 

***

 

Steve comes into the room later to check if Peter is awake from his nap. He finds Peter sitting on the floor staring down at his toys. 

“You didn’t sleep?”

Peter stands up quickly and looks up at Steve relieved. He glances back and sees that the woman and little boy are no longer there. The clothes were returned to the dresser as promised. It had to all be a dream. There was never any ghosts and his room was back to normal. Steve looks down displeased as he notices the wet spot on Peter’s shorts and the small puddle of pee on the rug. 

“Are you a damn dog?”

“What?” Peter cries as he takes a step back.

“How long have you been sitting here in your own piss?”

Peter looks down ashamed trying to cover the front of his pants with his hands. It had been years since he had an accident and he was completely mortified. “The door was stuck and I couldn’t get out.”

“You didn’t yell for one of us?”

“I did! You didn’t hear me!”

Steve can feel the frustration mounting and his mind is swirling with thoughts. He couldn’t get Tony’s face out of his head. The look he gave him when he confronted him about Peter that morning. Stuck in this tiny house as torrents of rain fall from the skies, he couldn’t get away from them. He couldn’t finish the conversation with Tony because there was no-one to watch Peter. They were supposed to talk during his nap but neither one brought it up. The power had came back on so Tony buried himself in work, putting on his headphones. Shutting Steve out seemed to be one of Tony’s favorite pastimes.

“The ghosts, Papa. They wouldn’t let me out.”

Peter’s acting out was wearing on his last nerve. “That’s enough with the ghosts. I don’t want to hear another word. This acting-out has to stop.”

Peter is opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish gasping for breath. He’s too shocked to even begin to form words in response.

Steve goes to pull Peter’s shirt off and Peter struggles against him before sitting down hard against the floor. Steve grabs his arm and pulls him up roughly. “You want to stay in your piss clothes? You are way too old to be acting like this.”

“No!”

“He listens better when you ask nicely,” Tony says as he leans against the doorframe. “And don’t scold him for something that’s obviously an accident. Kids have small bladders.”

Peter is looking up at Tony pleadingly as he struggles to keep Steve from removing his top.

“So the question is, why is Peter so afraid for you to take his clothes off? Is this what he meant by you hurting him?”

Steve suddenly releases Peter almost causing him to fall into the floor. He looks over at Tony horrified. “Is everything a joke to you? Is there no line you won’t cross? Get out of my way,” Steve demands as he pushes past Tony to leave the room. “I can’t stay in this house. I need to punch something,” he complains as he makes his way to the door, grabbing the car key and his phone. He assumed there would be a gym in town with a punching bag he’d end up breaking and Tony would have to pay to replace. It was better than hitting Tony, there was no coming back from that.

 

***

 

Tony sits at the dining table finishing up his project despite his headache.. He ignores the calls coming in from Steve on his phone. It had been hours and was past dinner time. He didn’t want to talk to him. It had taken almost that much time to get Peter to calm down again. He said he had a bad dream during his nap and then Steve had scared him when he starting yelling. In the past few minutes, Peter had been complaining he was hungry. Tony had given him a bag of chips. He was about to look through the fridge for something they could eat when Steve comes in the door with greasy burgers and milkshakes. “I got your favorite Pete. Strawberry. And chocolate for you, my love,” he says as he hands one to Tony. He leans down to kiss him and surprisingly the kiss is returned. “I broke some gym equipment. You’ll be seeing a charge soon.”

“Plain ol’ vanilla for Captain Boring,” Tony comments.

“Oh I changed it up. Mint chocolate chip. And there’s nothing wrong with vanilla. It’s a solid flavor.”

“Sure old man.”

Tony is clearing the table and Steve starts to empty the bags. Peter is happily sucking down his milkshake. Tony grabs plates and silverware. He cuts Peter’s burger in half, only placing half on his plate with some fries. “I want a whole one!”

“Finish what’s on your plate first,” Steve says as he unwraps a burger.

“Stop sucking down the milkshake and eat,” Tony says after eating a bite of his bacon cheeseburger.

Peter huffs and places the cup heavily on the table. He finishes the food as his plate while Steve is going to seconds. Peter grabs the milkshake again and sits sideways in his chair facing towards the living-room. 

“Peter, listen. I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Peter looks up at him. “Can we watch a movie?”

He hops off his chair and starts to walk towards the couch.

“You’re not excused from the table,” Steve says.

Peter turns back towards him, milkshake straw still in his mouth. He reaches out his hand and grabs Steve’s thigh. Steve returns to eating and Peter stares at something on the wall. Tony and Steve continue eating until something seems to spook Peter. He climbs up onto Steve’s lap, nearly causing him to drop his food. Steve sets his burger down and wipes his hands on his napkin. He grabs Peter around his waist and pulls him back so he can see his face. Peter’s eyes are completely transfixed on something behind Steve, his mouth hanging open. Steve’s eyes narrow with concern before he looks over at Tony.

“Something is wrong, Tony.”

Tony stands up and walks over to them, looking at Peter with troubled expression on his face. 

“He’s not looking at anything,” Tony observes.

Steve squeezes his sides gently. “Peter?”

“Hey!” Tony yells causing Peter to jump and look over at him surprised. He crumples against Steve and hides his face against his chest. Steve rubs Peter’s back and looks at Tony worried.

“What was that?”

“He’s mad Daddy! He’s mad!”

“No-one is mad at you,” Tony says.

Tony starts to clean up the food as Steve carries Peter over to the couch. He sets him down gently on a cushion and wraps a blanket around him. 

“You’re alright. Daddy and I aren’t mad at you. Find a movie to watch while we clean up,” Steve says as he hands him the remote.

Steve returns to the kitchen to help clean up. Peter starts to calm down as both his parents join him on the couch.

 

***

 

Tony finally gets the alarms working. At 3:30 a.m., he wakes up to his phone buzzing. He grabs it and projects the image onto the closet door. It is very clearly Peter unlocking the sliding door and heading outside. He turns towards Steve and shakes his shoulder until he wakes up. 

“God, Tony, what?”

He gestures towards the closet. “Peter is about to head outside.” 

Tony gets out of the bed and heads quickly through the house and out of the deck.

“Peter! What the hell are you doing?”

Peter freezes at the sound of his father’s voice and slowly turns back towards him. His eyes meet Tony’s but they don’t seem to register anything. He then looks up towards his left before he takes the steps off the deck and into the soft wet grass.

“Hey!” Tony shouts as he closes the distance between them, grabbing Peter’s arm roughly when he catches up to him. He pulls his child towards him. Peter’s movements are rag-doll like and he doesn’t acknowledge Tony. He pulls against Tony’s hold, his arm out like someone else is dragging him away. “Hey!” Tony shouts at him again but there is no response. Tony raises his hand and smacks Peter’s bottom. Tears spring into Peter’s eyes, he looks confused back and forth between Tony and his stinging backside. 

“Why? I’m listening to you!” Peter pleads with him. He was still under the impression that Tony had brought him outside and wanted him to go into the woods. So he was confused now as Tony was yelling at him and trying to pull him inside. One of them wasn’t really his father and he had to go with the right one.

“Listening to me? Kid you’re doing the opposite!”

Peter pulls out of his grasp and starts running towards the woods. Tony gives chase and quickly catches up to him. “That’s enough Peter,” he growls at him. He starts to spank him. Steve has made his way outside, standing on the deck barefoot watching the two of them. “Who’s the shitty parent now, Tony?” he mocks his husband.

Tony starts to drag the crying child towards the house, mumbling about tying him down to his bed. “I don’t want to hear it, Steve. Fucking middle of the night and he’s being Runaway Train over here.”

Tony tires of fighting to get Peter to walk so he picks him up instead. The three of them head back into the house. Soon they get settled into bed, deciding that letting Peter sleep with them will lower the chances of another escape. It’s quiet and the two men are starting to doze. “Daddy! I have to pee.”

“Then go.”

A few minutes later, Peter returns from the bathroom and stands in front of Tony staring into his face. Standing so close that Tony can feel his breath against his nose. Tony opens his eyes. 

“What?”

“I’m thirsty.”

“Go drink out of the bathroom sink.”

Peter gives him a weird look before heading back into the bathroom. Steve wouldn’t approve of drinking directly out of the sink. He returns to the room and climbs over Tony to get to the middle of the bed. Under the covers, he slides in between them before pressing his back against Steve’s and stretching his legs out until they touch Tony’s side.

“Tony,”

“Son,” Tony says emphasizing the word.

“I’m ready to be with my real parents now,” Peter says eerily.

“What?!” Tony says shocked.

“Nothing Tony. Go to bed,” Peter says in a matter-of-fact way.

Tony’s exhausted and Steve’s silence indicates that he’s no longer awake. Tony was tired, his head still had a dull ache. He wants to go to sleep. Hours pass and he can’t fall asleep. Peter’s strange words running through his head. It didn’t feel like something his son would say. He reaches out and pulls Peter’s small body to his chest. He snuggles up to him and it seems to be enough to calm Tony’s mind so he can drift off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. It was a hard to write with everyone being in conflict with each other. The weather has become really warm here so that's helping for the summer setting. We even had a thunderstorm last night which is really unusual for December.
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> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
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	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a hard chapter to plot out and write. I hope it flows properly. Phone calls are very awkward to write but I tried.

Steve glances back towards the bed one more time before leaving the room. Tony and Peter were still soundly asleep. He goes to the kitchen and grabs a cup of coffee. They had been staying here long enough for him to figure out how to program the machine, so coffee was ready when he woke up. He carries his mug into the sunroom and settles into one of the overstuffed chairs. He pulls his phone out of the pocket of his pajamas, and scrolls through his contacts until he finds Sam Wilson. Tony gave him a hard time for putting full names in his phone. His husband’s phone was full of nicknames he had made up for people. Steve always found it maddening when he had to use Tony’s phone. Sam was currently Flyboy in Tony’s phone or at least last time Steve had checked. He didn’t know how many times he had changed his own from Captain Spangles to Hubby. Tony was always changing it back.

“Hello?”

“Hey Sam. Good morning.”

“Oh. Hey Steve. Morning. I just got back inside. What did your asshole husband do now?”

“He has a name.”

“And I used it.”

“It is Tony. Partly…I don’t know. We’re not exactly talking.”

“Are you telling me you did something to Tony?”

Steve laughs nervously. “Maybe I need to take a step back and explain something first.”

“Sure. Go ahead,” Sam says.

Steve can hear him digging through the refrigerator, probably for a water bottle. He takes a deep breath.

“We’re having a lot of behavioral problem with Peter.”

“Okay,” Sam says when Steve pauses for a moment.

“I’m having a hard time dealing with it.”

“A lot of guys feel that way after coming home. It still feels recent, doesn’t it? The war?”

“Feels like it’s only been a few years. I lost my temper with him,” Steve says before there is another long pause.

“You know I’m not here to judge.”

Steve looks out the large windows of the sunroom towards the bedroom he and Tony are staying in. There were no curtains on the windows and he could see that they were still sound asleep. There was no chance of Tony overhearing.

“I didn’t...I didn’t... I...He told Tony that I’ve been hurting him. And when Tony confronted me on it, I just felt betrayed. You know? He’s my husband. He should trust me. How could he think—” Steve pauses again trying to collect himself.

“There’s resources you know. For helping you deal with anger. I could—”

“Sam! I didn’t hurt my kid!”

Another long pause.

“I believe you Steve.”

“He’s acting so weird this week. He’s having nightmares and acting out. He keeps telling us wild stories. He won’t sleep in his own bed. He wet his pants yesterday. And Sam, he was just sitting in it, in his room.”

“That’s weird. Did he tell you why he didn’t use the bathroom?”

“It was another crazy story. Tony and I got into a fight. I had to leave. I felt this intense anger come over me. I wanted to hurt them.”

“You didn’t though. You handled the situation by removing yourself.”

“But it shouldn’t be like that. I should be able to handle being around my husband and kid.”

“It’s okay to take a moment for yourself.”

There’s silence again as Steve tries to digest what Sam is saying.

“Oh god and there’s something else,” Steve starts to say. “Peter did this weird thing at dinner. He was just staring at nothing. He wouldn’t respond to either of us just staring at the wall. Then he just snapped out of it.” 

“How long did it last?”

“A minute or two.”

“That isn’t good. I don’t want to alarm you. It could be nothing but you should take him to the doctor when you get back.”

“Sam, why?”

“Listen. It’s probably nothing but that sounds like a seizure to me. It’s not always spasms or convulsions.”

“Really?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. Let a doctor check him out. I have to go. I have to be at the VA in an hour. You need to talk to Tony about this. ”

“Sure, Sam. Thanks for listening.”

“Take care. Bye.”

“You too. Bye.”

Steve ends the call and goes to stand-up. His coffee had started to cool off so he heads to the kitchen to refill it. He barely replaces the carafe in the coffee machine when he phone starts to vibrate.

“Hello?”

“Hi Steve. It’s Marie. If you don’t have plans we wanted to invite you over for coffee and pastries.”

“That sounds nice. When? Today?”

“This morning. 11? If you’re free.”

He looks down the hallway towards the bedroom. He doesn’t hear the shower running or Tony moving around. 

“Tell you what. Once Tony is awake I’ll ask him. It’s 7:40 now. I’ll call you back in an hour.”

“Sure. Thank you. Hope to see you soon.”

Steve takes a sip of his coffee before heading into the bedroom. The only sound is the ceiling fan whirling and Tony’s soft snores. 

“Peter,” he whispers, “are you awake?”

He sits on the bed and reaches out to brush Peter’s hair out of his face. It’s a few seconds before Peter’s brown eyes pop open. He reaches his arms out for Steve to hold him as soon as he sees him. Steve opens his arms and Peter gets out from under the covers and climbs into his lap. Steve encases him in his arms and kisses his forehead. “Good morning baby.”

“Not a baby,” Peter mumbles against the grey fabric of Steve’s shirt.

“You hungry? I’ll make breakfast.”

Tony groans and rolls away from them. Steve scoots to the edge of the bed and Peter climbs off of him. “Let’s leave the room and let Daddy get some more sleep.”

 

***

Steve fixes bagels for both of them. They eat a small breakfast before Steve decides to head out for a run. He sets Peter up on the couch with some cartoons and a cup of water. 

Steve returns after his run sweaty and ready for a shower. He sees Peter curled up under a light blanket. “Is your Daddy up?”

Peter looks up at him. “I think he’s still in bed.”

Steve goes into the bedroom and sees Tony sitting up and looking at something on his phone. He wipes his face off with a towel. “‘Morning Tony.”

Tony looks at him quickly goes back to what he is reading. Steve sighs and considers just getting in the shower instead of pushing it. 

“Tony?”

“Good morning. How’d you sleep? Awful? Me too. Our psycho kid keeps trying to run into the woods.”

“Tony!”

“What? It’s true—”

Steve sits on the bed a pulls the phone from Tony’s hands. Placing it on the bed as he leans in to kiss him. He starts to pull up Tony’s shirt, before leaning back to pull it over his head, he whispers against his lips. “You’re so infuriating.”

He straddles Tony and presses him against the headboard as he kisses him. First on the mouth, then the cheek before he makes his way down his neck. He pulls Tony’s shirt back and kisses collarbone and then across his shoulder.

 

***

Peter hears the noises from his parents room and turns up the television louder. He knew they were doing their adult thing and they would be in there a while so it was a perfect time to sneak cookies from the kitchen. He places his chocolate cookies carefully on a napkin in his lap. He munches away as he tries to not think about the previous night. It felt more like a dream to him than reality. He’s lost in his Disney movie when he hears the loud sound of a door creaking open. He jumps at the sound and his eyes are drawn towards the basement door. He puts his pile of cookies on the couch cushion next to him and walks over to the basement. He intended to shut the door and return to the living-room but something was drawing him down. One foot after the other, he takes the steps down into the basement. He flips the switch at the bottom of the stairs and looks around him.

The basement is full of things covered in dusty white sheets. He hears things moving around and then a box clatters to the floor. 

“Hello?”

The little ghost boy appears from behind some boxes, he runs past Peter giggling before circling back. “Peter! Do you want to play?”

Peter looks at him hesitantly knowing from his last encounter that the boy wasn’t alive. He can hear someone digging through a box and more giggling. The ghost boy runs towards the noise. “Don’t be shy. You said you wanted to meet him.”

Peter cranes his head trying to get a better view but the sheet is still obscuring them. He startles as he sees two children dragging a box towards him. A little girl has joined the boy. She’s wearing pajamas and her eyes appear to be sunken in. She pulls a doll out of the box and squeals with delight. “We haven’t been able to touch things for ages. I’ve missed this.”

The little boy is grabbing a tea set from the box. “We can have a tea party.”

The children seemed nice, ghosts or not, so Peter went over to sit by them on the floor.

“No! We have to put the picnic blanket down and you sit on that,” the little girls corrects him.

Peter stands up and waits for the two other children to set everything up before sitting down again.

“We love having a new playmate. We don’t see our friends anymore.”

“Why not?”

“They don’t visit. We can’t leave.”

“I was outside,” the boy says.

“Because that’s where you died. You weren’t able to come back in until Peter opened the door.”

“But you’re so young,” Peter says as he stares at the little pink cats on the tea cup. They play as if they’re normal children and it almost stops feeling odd to Peter. He starts to feel like he’s over at a friend’s house.

“Peter!!” Steve calls from upstairs. The brown-haired boy jumps up so quickly he knocks the cup over. He looks up to the ceiling listening to his parents call for him. “I—I have to go.”

“He’s angry like our Daddy,” the little girl says.

Peter hears loud footsteps coming down the stairs and he turns slowly to see Steve. “Tony! He’s down here!”

Steve walks over to Peter, and looks disappointedly between the apparent tea party and his son. “What are you doing in the basement? These aren’t our things. You shouldn’t be in them.”

Steve starts to clean up the toys and replace them in the box.

“No! Papa stop!” He tries grabbing at Steve’s arm. “Leave it, please!”

Steve ignores him as he repacks the box and places on top of a near by pile.

“Get upstairs now!”

Peter doesn’t need to told twice as he bounds up the stairs. Tony is leaning against the kitchen counter by the basement door.

Tony finds the cookies Peter has left on the couch. He grabs them and crushes them in his hand before throwing them in the trash. Peter is crying and begging them not to throw them away. “You can’t get into cookies whenever you want. You didn’t ask. They’re going in the trash. End of story.”

Peter throws himself on the ground and starts to cry. Steve grabs his arm and starts to pull him to the bathroom. Intent on cleaning the chocolate from his face. Steve practically has to drag him. He shuts the bathroom door once they are inside. Steve grabs a washcloth from under the sink and starts to wet it with warm water. “Sit down,” he says intending to have Peter sit on the toilet so he can reach his face easier. Peter sits in the middle of the rug instead. “You know that’s not what I meant.” Steve grabs him under the armpits and places him on the vanity top. He wipes off his face.

“You done crying?” 

Peter shakes his head. 

“Jerry and Marie invited us over. Do you want to play with Bailey?” Steve says trying to negotiate with him. Peter nods his head. Steve wipes at his tears again. “Then stop crying. It’s only cookies.”

“But Daddy threw them away and no-one gets to eat them! I wanted them!”

Steve places him back on the floor and opens the bathroom door. Peter is still crying as they walk back into the kitchen. Steve looks over at Tony and sighs. “Alright. That’s enough crying, Peter. Come here,” Steve says.

Steve lifts him up into his arms and places him on his hip. With his free hand he starts to tickle him. “Can’t cry when you’re laughing, can you?”

Peter roars with laughter and tries to pull out of Steve’s hold. “You can’t get away, can you?” Steve teases as he tilts Peter so he’s up-side down as he continues to tickle him. He pulls Peter upright and to his chest. Peter’s breathing is irregular as he fights between crying and laughing. He rests his head in the crook of Steve’s neck, tears leaking out of his eyes and against Steve’s skin.

 

***

The three of them head down the road to visit the neighbors. They all sit around the patio table eating snacks and drinking coffee and juice. Peter is playing with the dog while occasionally sneaking up to grab a snack cake. Steve is keeping an eye on him while trying to be attentive to the conversation. Jerry begins to tell them the story of the rental house.

“A couple from out of town bought it a few years back and fixed it up to rent. People don’t stay in that house long. Before that it has been through countless owners. Many of them have packed up in the middle of the night and never returned. A week or so later another For Sale sign is up. Now they don’t have to disclose this unless you specifically ask but there was a murder in that house. The local folks know but the address never made it to the national news. Our daughter Katie, she’s grown and off at college right now. She used to play with their daughter. They had a son too, a few years younger.

“Katie never played over at their house though. There was something off about that man. The father. After a tragedy like what happened at that house, people always say something like he was so normal. He was a nice guy. It was unexpected. Now of course it was unexpected but he wasn’t a nice guy. Even from down the road we could hear the fighting. We called the cops plenty of times but the wife never wanted to press charges. It was just a sad situation you could tell the little girl didn’t want to go home at night.

“One night,” Jerry pauses and reaches out to hold Marie’s hand before continuing. “One night, the police cars were lined up down the street. Ambulances and fire trucks. All out here. He had murdered the wife and daughter before killing himself. The little boy was missing. They couldn’t find his body. A search team would put together to comb through the woods. They found him the next morning floating in the creek. We felt you had a right to know. It’s all in the newspaper if you search back that far.”

“That house should be torn down and let the forest grow over it. No-one should be living on that property,” Marie adds before sadly looking at her husband. “Poor Katie had such a rough time after that. She’s never gotten over losing her best friend.”

Steve reaches for Tony’s hand under the table, staring at his husband for a moment before looking out into the yard and focusing on Peter playing with the dog. “That’s terrible. Absolutely terrible,” Steve says still processing the information. 

Peter runs up to them, Bailey trailing behind him. He’s giggling and it seems to cheer up the somber mood. “Bailey knocked me over for the ball. It was funny. Then she was licking my face.”

Tony and Steve laugh at him. Steve reaches out and tousles his hair before placing a kiss on top of head. “Oh Jeez. Tony, he tastes like dirt.”

Tony points at Peter, “someone is getting a bath when we get home.”

“I don’t want a bath. I want to stay dirty,” Peter says as he dances around. “What were you guys talking about?”

“Boring adult things,” Steve says.

“How long have you lived here? Did you know the family that lived in our house before?” Peter asks wanting to be a part of the conversation.

“It isn’t our house Peter. We’re just staying there for the week,” Steve corrects him.

“We’ve lived here since we got married many years ago. We remember a lot of the families that lived in that house,” Marie says as she pours herself another cup of coffee. 

“I met the children who used to live there. Do you have a daughter named Katie? Ashley wanted me to tell her hello.”

Marie drops her coffee cup and it spins precariously in the saucer before righting itself. Coffee has splashed on the table so Marie stands up and makes an excuse to go inside. Peter looks over at Steve, not understanding what he said wrong. He could tell that his words had upset Marie.

“That was the name of their daughter,” Jerry says solemnly.

“I saw her. She’s in the basement.”

“Peter! That’s enough,” Tony cuts in, clearly shaken. Peter startles and doesn’t understand why Tony is scolding him.

“We should get going. We have plans for the afternoon,” Steve says quickly, as he stands up and glances at Tony waiting for him to do the same. Jerry stands up and Steve reaches out to shake his hand. 

 

****

 

Evening came after a long day of activities outside of the house. They go to a working farm in the neighborhood. Peter was excited to see the farm animals and play with the herding dogs. Touring the sugar shack was one of his favorite parts. It’s a building dedicated to making maple syrup. The process usually starts in February or March. They tap the trees when it's frozen, and the sap starts flowing once everything thaws. The barrels of sap are taken to the sugar shack to be processed in the oven. Someone has to sleep in the loft and watch the oven all night. The oven is giant, over 5 feet tall and twice as long. Peter was excited to listen to the explanation but was disappointed he couldn’t see the process this time of year.

They watch a movie on the couch after the long day. Peter is cuddled between his parents. Midway through the movie, Peter has his head resting in Tony’s lap and is asleep. Once it ends, Steve carefully picks up the sleeping child. They take him to his room and get him tucked into bed. They hope he sleeps through the night and stays in his bed. He looks so tiny sometimes, especially under the covers only his head peeking out. 

“Love you, kid,” Tony says as he leans down and kisses his forehead. Steve is next as he places a kiss on his cheek and whispers, “I love you.”

“Another movie?” Tony asks as he looks over at his husband. It was early enough in the evening they could squeeze in another one.

“Sure,” Steve says as he turns on the nightlight before leaving the room. They leave the door slightly ajar before returning the living room to cuddle up on the couch and watch one of the latest releases.

 

****

Steve wakes up and goes about his day. Quietly, he gets dressed so as not to wake Tony. Peeking into his son’s room, he sees a lump under the covers. He shakes his head and sighs, thinking about how weird Peter sleeps sometimes. He decides to go for a run on the road. Returning home, Steve is feeling surprised Peter isn’t awake and watching cartoons. He makes a mental note to check on him before going to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. The house is warming up with the summer temperatures soaring outside. He heads to the bathroom to take a cold shower.

He thinks about it in the shower and then when he’s in the bedroom getting dressed. Vaguely he is aware that Tony is watching him from the bed. 

“Getting up yet?” he asks.

“No,” Tony says softly. “Just wanted to watch.” 

Steve leans down and kisses him. “I’ll start breakfast soon. I’m going to wake up Peter.”

Steve smiles at Tony before heading out of the room to check on their son. He pulls the covers back and it shocked to find the bed empty. He whirls around and pulls open the closet. It’s empty so he head into the hall and looks around. Worry is starting to take over as he starts frantically searching the house. He does a quick sweep of the basement.

“Tony! I can’t find Peter,” Steve shouts as he heads back into their bedroom.

Tony sits up and reaches for his phone to find it missing. “I swear I put my phone right here.”

Steve is already out of the room and heading outside. Shouting Peter’s name. He’s soon joined by Tony who’s holding a broken camera in his hand. It was what he had placed above the sliding door to alert him if Peter was sneaking out. “Peter trashed our phones. And this. I’ll put on my suit and fly over the forest to look for a heat signature.”

“I’ll suit up and put out a call for the Avengers to assemble. He has to be out there Tony.”

Steve waits at the edge of the property for the Avengers to show. It wouldn’t take long in the Quinjet after the call to assemble. Tony was already suited up and starting to fly above the forest. Someone had to stay back in case Peter came back home. It drove him crazy to just be standing there. He wanted to be out in the woods looking for his son. Tony was better suited for it though, he could fly overhead and look for Peter.

Middle of summer and the trees are full of leaves making it impossible to see the forest floor. Jarvis was zooming in when he found heat signatures but nothing as a big as a child had showed up. He started to worry that Peter wasn’t even in the woods. He hoped Steve was checking in and around the house. He had to keep a clear head, he couldn’t let the worries about his son cloud his mind. It was still early morning, the sky still had that hazed over look it gets before the sun fully rises. Peter had left before Steve woke and it would have been full dark. Full dark, in a large forest with all types of animals that would view a human child as easy prey.

What had Peter left the house in? Did he have shoes? Did he have warm enough clothes on? The temperatures dropped considerably at night enough where a jacket and long pants would be required. They didn’t check his room. Steve had started packing up last night, the plan was to head home in the morning. The story from the neighbors had been unsettling and they were ready to return to the city. Steve would have left Peter’s outfit for today out on the dresser. That wouldn’t have been warm enough either. Most likely it had been shorts and a tank-top. He turns on his mic and reaches out to Steve on the comm.

“Cap? Cap, what was he wearing? Does he have his shoes?”

“The team is twenty minutes out. I—I checked his room. He’s in his pajamas but his shoes are gone. Did you see something?”

“Nothing yet.”

“They’re calling for rain. Probably in the next hour,” Steve says referring to the weather channel. He had the television on, he couldn’t stand the silence of the house.

Tony continues to worry as the minutes pass but he doesn’t voice any more of his concerns to Steve. Saying it aloud seemed to make it more real and he didn’t want to accept it. He zooms in on a few heat signatures but they’re all false leads. 

“IronMan, your status?” Steve’s voice comes through the comm.

“Nothing yet.”

“Banner is staying at the house to wait for Peter. The rest of us are heading into the woods. I’ll head north. Black Widow head east. Hawkeye take west. Falcon will join you in the skies. Everyone head out.”

 

****  
three hours before

Peter wakes as he feels someone nudging his shoulder. His eyes pop open and the room slowly comes into focus. He lets out a whine as he stretches his body out. Steve is leaning over him, hand still resting on his shoulder. “Time to get up baby bear.”

Peter sits up and looks around the room confused. “It’s still dark.”

“Hush now. Get up. We have somewhere to be.”

Peter pulls the covers tighter around himself. He did not want to leave the warm comfort of his bed.

“Now Peter. I said get up now. Do you want a spanking?”

Had Peter been more awake he would had found the entire exchange to be weird. Steve had never threatened him with spankings before. He’s still half asleep and getting in trouble the other day is still fresh in his mind, so he hops out of bed quickly.

“Thatta boy. Go get your shoes on.”

Another odd thing for Steve to say but it doesn’t register for Peter. He walks sleepily to the front door to retrieve his shoes. He pulls them on over his bare feet, carefully tying the laces just like Tony had taught him. He looks up curiously as Steve walks into the kitchen, trying to make out what he is holding. Steve plugs the sink and turns on the faucet as Peter walk to the counter. 

Steve has their phones and the StarkPad. He shuts off the tap and places them in the water. He grabs some pans from the cabinet and places them on top of the electronics. Peter’s eyes go wide and he watches Steve confused. “Daddy’s going to mad when he finds them.”

“Daddy told me to do this. Don’t worry,” Steve assures him.

Peter knows that isn’t right and that the water will destroy the electronics. He doesn’t question it anymore though and just accepts that Steve is right.

He realizes something is off when they get to the door. Steve breaks the cameras and the door opening sensor. “Daddy is—”

“Shut up kid,” Steve scolds before mockingly saying, “Daddy is going to be mad.”

Peter falls silent and his lip starts to tremble. The teasing hurt and it made him feel stupid.

Steve pulls the door open and grabs Peter by the arm to lead him outside. Peter stands firm and refuses to budge. “I can’t go outside. Daddy will spank me again.”

Steve’s grip on his arm tightens so much that bruises will certainly form. He turns towards him with a look in his eyes so dark, so menacing that Peter almost feels his bladder let loose. That would be embarrassing, to pee his pants twice in a week. He gets control of it so only a small bit leaks out into his underwear. He tries to pull his arm out of Steve’s grasp. “I need to wake up Daddy.”

Steve won’t let go so Peter starts to scream but no sound comes out. He looks up at Steve horrified and confused about why he can’t make a sound. Steve pulls him forward and through the door propelling him forward before letting him go and crash into the wooden deck. The pain spreading through his nose and face is worse than anything he felt before. He curls up into himself and cries his silent tears. The sound still muted no matter how much he calls for Tony. 

“Get up,” a voice says coldly. It’s no longer a voice that Peter recognizes. He looks up and doesn’t understand what is standing before him. It has a ghost white face with black lips and eyes darkened with kohl like a raccoon. An almost translucent dress hangs like a sheath on its body. The hair is long and grey and messy. Upon its head is a crown, made suspiciously out of bones. He hoped it wasn’t human bones but it reminded him of a spine. The wind is knocked from him as the creature starts to kick him.

“I told you to get up!”

Peter has never felt so much pain in his life. He’s struggling to catch his breath and not choke on his tears. Each kick hurt more than the last. One of them hits his bladder and this time he does let it go. It soaks into his pants and he immediately feels cold. The assault stops and he’s pulled to his feet roughly.

“Disgusting. Human children are always so disgusting.”

“Let me go. Please let me go,” Peter begs. He can’t hear his own voice but the creature seems to react to it.

They begin their walk into the woods and Peter gives up on fighting it. He hurt all over and his nose was starting to bleed. They descended into the pitch darkness of the forest going deeper and deeper into it. It felt as though they had walked for miles, his feet were beginning to feel sore. The lack of sleep was getting to him and he wanted to rest. Just for a moment to sit in the soft underbrush of the forest floor. He didn’t dare because he feared another beating from the creature.

“Hey you!”

The creature stops as a young woman in an long white under-dress with a purple apron dress over it jumps down from a tree. She has a crown upon her head as well but it’s made of flowers. Long dark blonde hair is secured in a plait on the back of her head and Peter finds her to be beautiful. Her clothes are made of fine silk. The woman circles around them almost as if in a fighting stance but she appears to have no weapon.

“I thought my father forbade you from hunting here. Yup, I’m pretty sure he did.”

“Go away child. I don’t see Ol’ One Eye or your brothers around now. ”

The woman keeps moving around them as if she’s exploding with energy. She cackles sounding older than she looks. She stops suddenly and stands directly in front of them. “This is my domain and I allow you to live here, no?”

The woman tilts her head waiting for an answer. The creature lets Peter go and shoves him towards its adversary. She holds out her hand expectantly. “Here little one. I won’t hurt you. I’m a woodland goddess and I protect those who roam here.”

“Protect? Hah! You’ll let me starve. As evil as your crooked father.”

Peter looks up at the woman before running over to her. There was something about the energy she gave off, it felt safe and warm in her presence. She kneels before him and looks him over, pushing his hair from his forehead. “You poor thing. She’s hurt you. You’re just a babe,” she says ignoring the creature’s comments.

Her small manicured hand touches his face and a gold light flashes before his eyes. The pain in his nose is gone. Her hand moves down his arm erasing the bruises and then to his stomach removing the pain there. Peter starts crying again, “I want to go home.”

His voice doesn’t come out and the woman fixes the creature with a look. “You took his voice?”

He startles as the woman presses a kiss against his lips. 

“What?” Peter cries confused before placing his fingertips against his lips.

The woman stands up and starts to lead him away. “I’ll take you to your home.”

Suddenly Peter is shoved to the ground and the woman is shielding him with her body. The creature has attacked them from behind. “I’m going to get up and I need you to run,” the woman says as she spins around and pulls a sword seemingly out of nowhere. Peter doesn’t stay to watch the fight and instead he takes off running. He doesn’t stop until he came to the creek. He looks it up and down trying to find a spot where it’s thinner or perhaps where there is a bridge. No such thing is found and there’s choice but to walk through it. He didn’t know how long he had been running but the woman or the creature never showed up again. The sun has risen in the time he’s been out here. That much he knew. Rain had started to fall causing the ground to become muddy and slick. His parents would be up soon and notice that he was missing. He had to find a way across and quickly. He didn’t want to think of the punishment he’d receive if his parents found him sneaking back into the house.

There was a steep decline down to the water that has risen a couple feet with all the recent rain. He makes it a few steps down the muddy incline before his foot slips straight out from under him, slicing the back of his leg on a protruding tree root. Tumbling down until his body hits water, his head hits rock, and his vision goes black.

 

*****

Tony lands and steps out of his IronMan suit. Jarvis detected a heat signature here. The size of a child. Peter is lying in the creek face down, his face submerged in the water. Tony’s vision blurs, his left arm throbs, his hands are trembling uncontrollably. His thoughts wandered back to those parenting classes Steve insisted they attend. _A child can drown in less than three inches of water. Within two minutes they could lose consciousness. Within four to six minutes, permanent brain damage can be sustained. Fuck. How long until he’s dead?_ He’s trying to get to Peter and pull him out of the water. It feels like he’s moving through molasses. He speaks to the comm in his ear, his breath ragged between each word, “Cap. He’s here. I’ve found him. We need med-evac.”

Tony jumps into the creek, the cool water soaking through his jeans as he pulls Peter from the water. Peter is slack in his arms. _Take a breath dammit!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to point out that I didn't put a warning for major character death so Peter is still alive but not necessarily in the clear yet. I threw in one of my original characters from my non-fanfiction fiction work. She's the one that saves Peter from the creature.
> 
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> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
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	7. Chapter 7

Sam lands nearby as Tony is performing CPR following instructions from JARVIS. Sam takes command as he gets there. After years of Pararescue missions in Afghanistan and he’s starting to feel like he’s back into the thick of it. As if he’s surrounded by other pararescuemen and not in the middle of the woods trying to save his best friend’s son. The first ten minutes after you pull someone from the water are essential and it has to be done right. The longer the person isn’t breathing the lower the chance of survival.

“He has a pulse, Tony?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t feel it.”

Sam starts to check for a pulse. 

“It’s there but it’s faint. Tony, you have to press harder. You might hurt him but the pressure has to be right. You might break a rib but broken ribs are better than brain damage—“ Sam stops himself before adding or death to his sentence. 

“Let me do it,” Sam says as he forces his way in and Tony is too shocked to protest. He sits back on his haunches and watches the scene in front of him play out. Sam alternating between compressions and rescue breathing. Not even flinching at the times Peter coughs water into his mouth.

Peter’s eyes shoot open and he sucks in a breath. He starts trying to push away Sam’s hands that are still doing compressions. Sam stops and looks at Tony. “He’s responsive but we have to get him to a hospital.”

His skin is blue tinged and he’s shivering. He isn’t breathing that clearly so Sam moves him onto his side. Peter continues to throw up water. Tony reaches out and grabs his son’s hand. 

“Cough it up baby. You’re alright.”

“How far out is the medevac? We need to get him out of the wet clothes.” Sam yells into the comm.

Tony curses and wishes he had thought to bring something, anything along with him that he could wrap Peter in. The rain has finally stopped but they were all soaked. Peter was in too delicate of a state for Tony to fly him out of there. So he does what he can do, pull his son into his arms and hold him close. Hope that his body heat will help raise his temperature.

“It’s five minutes out. I’m heading to your location,” Steve responds.

In a few minutes, Steve is there with Natasha. They can hear the Quinjet getting closer. Steve falls to his knees over by Sam and Tony. Peter is in Tony’s arms, he’s coughing and having trouble breathing. Steve puts his arm around Tony and leans in to kiss Peter’s wet forehead. 

“He looks okay. He seems okay,” he whispers to no-one in particular and it’s more like he’s reassuring himself. Tears are forming in Steve’s eyes and he’s struggling to hold it together. “Don’t you do that again,” he says his voice sounding rough and unsteady. “You scared us. You can’t do that.”

Tony starts to blink rapidly, not wanting to cry in the moment. He had to hold it together. Steve is crying and Peter is shivering violently in his arms. “Where’s the fucking medevac? We need to get him into something dry,” Tony says angrily.

***

Tony is half leaning onto Steve’s chair, holding onto his hand as if it’s a lifeline. Coffee is sitting in front of them getting cold and barely touched. Bruce had grabbed it from the machine for them earlier. Natasha had tried to get them to eat food but neither one had an appetite. Everyone had left after getting to see Peter. He was lying in the hospital bed hooked up to monitors and an IV. He was breathing on his own but not well. He has a mask over his face that is delivering high-flow oxygen.

All day they take Peter from the room for various tests. It becomes quiet for a bit so he sleeps for a few hours while Tony and Steve watched the small television in the room. The nurse is in periodically to check his vitals. When the doctors take him away for more tests, the two men made their way to the cafeteria and ordered food. Neither felt hungry but they knew they had to eat. When they returned, Peter is still not back in the room. 

They sit in silence on the couch, both staring at the empty bed. Steve’s hand is wrapped tightly in Tony’s. Steve rests his head on his husband’s shoulder. “Remember that first Christmas with him?”

“I could never forget,” Tony answers. “He opened things so delicately and slowly. He didn’t want to rip the pretty paper.”

Steve smiles sadly as he feels tears welling in his eyes. “He…God…He had so much sugar that day—”

“Someone let him eat all the chocolate in his stocking before breakfast,” Tony says accusingly.

Steve blinks and lets the tears fall. Tony moves in and kisses him, offering comfort the best way he knows how. He then rests his hand on Steve’s shoulder before pulling back and looking into his eyes. He wanted to reassure him that everything would be okay but he didn’t want to make that promise. 

“He spent that afternoon screaming and crying before he crashed from all that sugar. He was fine when he woke up from the nap. We went to Mama Rhodes for Christmas dinner. Almost thought we would have to stay home with his earlier behavior,” Tony says as he continues reminiscing. He had no family left and neither did Steve. So their family tradition was to spend it with Tony’s best friend Rhodey and his family.

Steve pulls Tony into a tight hug and cries against his shoulder. “Good God, Tony, what are we going to do?”

Tony pats his back but can’t find the right words to comfort him. He held him and listened to his husband’s soft crying. No tears come to Tony’s eyes and he didn’t really know why he wasn’t crying. Perhaps it was because one of them had to hold it together. If Tony could be strong for Steve it would pull them through like a compass guiding a traveler.

Steve had found a pack of cards in the gift shop and they were playing games to pass the time. It was a welcome distraction from the constant worry, even if it was only a few minutes of relief before they remember why they were here. The first twenty-four hours pass like this. The two parents trying to distract themselves from the awful reality of sitting in a Pediatric ICU wondering if their child is going to survive.

On the second day, Peter is getting better and his vitals are looking really well. The doctors decide to take him off oxygen and observe him for a few hours. It’s late in the evening so Tony and Steve are making their makeshift beds on the couches in the room. Peter had fallen asleep while they were playing a card game. With all the medications it was hard for him to stay awake for very long. Steve wakes up a few hours later with a start as the steady sounds of the machines change instead to frantic beeping. He shakes Tony awake before he’s fully aware of his surroundings or what is going on in the room. The two men watch helplessly as doctors and nurses rush into the room. Peter had stopped breathing and gone into respiratory arrest.

Steve starts to walk towards the bed but the doctors yell at him to keep out of the way. Tony stands up and wraps his arm around him. They watch the scene play out in front of them as if it’s a movie. The dcotors and nurses are struggling to get Peter breathing again and another machine is starting to beep as he goes into cardiac arrest. Tony feels his knees going weak and feels like he’s going to fall when Steve grabs him and pulls him back up. They’re shocking his heart with the defibrillator pads. It’s hard from them to watch but they don’t turn away. It takes a few tries and Peter’s heart is beating again. An oxygen mask is being pulled over his face but he seems to be breathing again.

The room is eventually cleared out of all the doctors and nurses. Peter is taken away for more tests before he’s returned to his bed. Steve and Tony comfort him and help him to relax. He’s crying for a while and wanting both his parents to hold him. Eventually sleep over takes him and he falls into a fitful rest. Steve and Tony find themselves unable to sleep, so they cuddled up with each other on the couch under a blanket, and watch movies all night.

On the third day, Peter is starting to be really alert and irraitated. It is late in the evening when he starts to stir. Tony and Steve have resumed playing card games. Tony startles and drops his cards as he hears a cry from the bed. He’s up immediately and heading towards his son. Steve is right behind him and they surround the hospital bed.

Peter is pulling at his mask. “Off! Take it off!” he pleads as he starts to kick his legs with no concern for the various monitors or the catheter.

Tony attempts to pull his hands back. “No baby, it has to stay on.”

Peter screams more and slaps Tony’s face knocking his glasses off. Tony steps back and looks at Steve bewildered before he starts laughing. He retrieves his glasses and sets them in their case. “I think that’s a good sign? Awake. Alert. Angry.”

“I doubt that’s their checklist,” Steve says as he observes Peter’s hands moving under the blanket. He thinks he’s calmed down after the outburst. Steve goes for the straps on the mask about to loosen them when Tony starts yelling at him.

“Steve! What the hell are you doing? You can’t just take that off.”

“Right. Right,” Steve says as he stops what he’s doing. “He’s just so upset.”

“Pete, what are you grabbing at?” Tony asks as he watches the movement under the blanket.

“Take this out, Daddy.”

“Stop touching that right this instant!” Tony raises his voice as he scolds him realizes the Peter is playing with the catheter. Peter withdraws his hands and almost immediately notices the IV in his arm. Steve grabs his hand before he can try pulling that one out.

Peter resumes crying and kicking his legs, working up to a full-on tantrum. Tony presses the button to the call for the nurse. The two men try to calm their son down with little results. He kicks the blankets off and pulls up his hospital gown. Steve automatically tries to smooth it down and cover his son’s nakedness.

“Take it off, please,” he begs them.

“Petey we can’t,” Steve says as he grabs his ankles trying to still him. Tony goes for his hands to stop him from jerking around.

“I hate you! I hate you both! You’re the worst Dads!”

A nurse in light green scrubs comes in and gives him something to help with the anxiety. She checks his vitals again and says she’ll get the doctor to see if they can remove him from the oxygen.

“Thanks,” Steve says offering his hand and looking at the whiteboard that listed out Peter’s doctor and nurse. “Stephanie, we appreciate it.”

They sit around the hospital bed and set up their card game on Peter’s tray as they wait for the doctor. He mostly keeps up but seems to get confused and frustrated.

The doctor okays to remove him from everything. His results are looking good. They want to keep him for another six hour for observation. They can order him food.

Peter sits on Steve’s lap at the table as his parents encourage him to eat. They dress him in warm soft pajamas. “Is there a bathroom? I have to go.”

Tony stands up as Peter hops down and reaches for his hand. Peter is fine until Tony tries to go into the bathroom with him. Peter rips his hand out of his grasps and screams, “No! I can do it myself.”

Tony returns to the table and lets Peter do things on his own. Peter returns from the bathroom and stands by the table picking at the food on his plate. Carefully taking a bite of each thing before placing it back circling through things in a round robin fashion.

“Daddy?” he asks looking up at Tony.

“Yes, baby?”

“Why are we here?”

“The doctors want to observe you more before we head home.”

“Why?”

“You almost drowned kid. You scared the hell out of your Papa and me.”

Peter stares down at the table as if he’s deep in thought. “Okay.”

“Okay? That’s all you have to say?”

“When can we go home?”

“When the doctor says so,” Tony replies.

“When is that?”

“What?”

“When does the doctor say so?’

Tony laughs. “When he does?”

“Which is when?”

Tony holds out his hands. “Come here.”

Peter steps forward and Tony pulls him onto his lap. “Are you trying to be funny?”

“Huh?” Tony asks as he tickles his side. “You think that’s funny?”

“God…Tony, stop! You can’t tickle him. Christ!”

“Chill,” Tony says as he stills his hand. Peter rests his head against his father’s shoulder. His little eyes flutter before closing. 

“Don’t tell me to chill. He was literally not breathing without assistance ten minutes ago. You’re going to get his heart rate up and his breathing ragged. Great idea.”

Tony tunes Steve out as he slides the tray of food over. He scoops some vegetables on a fork and offers it to Peter. The child takes it reluctantly and slowly chews the food. A few minutes pass as he sleepily eats his food.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I yelled like that. I don’t want to fight. I can’t deal with this. From the second I realized he was missing I’ve had this heaviness in my stomach. I can’t relax.”

“I feel the same way,” Tony says spooning the rest of the food into Peter’s mouth. “You have a treat for dessert,” Tony says as he picks up a plastic container with foil top and reads the label. “Orange Jello.” Tony tears off the top and dips in the spoon. He tries a bit of the orange jello. “Well that was interesting.” He offer Steve a small spoonful. 

He takes it and says, “it’s not bad.”

“You’re at the prime age for liking jello.”

“You’re the one that’s into it.”

Tony laughs and shakes his head. “Fair point.”

Peter curls tighter into Tony. “Stomach hurts.”

“What’s that baby?”

“My stomach is hurting.”

“Do you feel sick? Like you’re going to throw up?”

Peter whines and rests his head in Tony’s neck. Tony throws the jello back onto the tray and wraps both his arms around his son. 

“Do you want to lie down again?”

“No!” Peter whines.

It’s nearly midnight by the time Peter actually gets discharged. They load up the car that Bruce had packed up and drove to the hospital to meet them after the rest of the team got on the Quinjet. Bruce had returned home after the first night. Peter is carefully buckled into the backseat and then wrapped with a blanket from the gift shop. Even with it being mid-summer they were worried about him catching a chill. Tony and Steve took turns on the drive back to the city. They collapse into bed when they finally make it home. 

***  
home

Peter wakes Steve up as he crawls into their bed as he’s trying to get under the covers. Steve lifts the covers up so Peter can slide under. He goes to encase Peter in his arms and pull him close. “No,” Peter whines. He just wants to lie on his back in-between his fathers. No snuggling. 

“What were you out of bed for?” Steve asks.

“Pee,” Peter says as he rolls towards Tony.

He knew he was being over protective but even Peter leaving the bed for the bathroom made him nervous. It would take time to rebuild that trust. He didn’t like Peter leaving his side and he knew eventually the time would come when he would have to. He and Tony would return to work and Peter would go back to daycare.

A couple hours later, Steve is starting to wake up. His body knows it’s late morning and won’t let him sleep any longer even though they got to bed late. He goes to the bathroom and then starts changing into joggers and a t-shirt. Peter sits up in bed watching him. “You getting out of bed?”

Peter slides off the bed and follows Steve out of the room. Steve sets him up on the couch with cartoons and a cup of juice. He sits heavily on the couch and puts his feet up on the coffee table. He sits there thinking about whether he should go for a run for not. That was his intention when he got up this morning. It was part of his morning routine but the very thought of going today made his heart rate increase. 

If he had paid more attention that morning he would have noticed Peter wasn’t in bed. It would have taken him seconds to do that check. Another minute to sweep the whole house. They would have been out there looking for Peter. He wouldn’t have fallen into the creek and they wouldn’t be watching him so closely for any signs of complications. No, he wouldn’t go for his run so instead he goes to the kitchen to make coffee. After he grabs a cup, he glances at Peter before heading towards the bedrooms to unpack their suitcases.

Peter is curled up on the couch just as he left him when he returns. He managed to get everything unpacked and had just put in a load of laundry. Peter is breathing through his mouth and sounds congested when Steve checks on him. 

“Go blow your nose.”

“I did. It doesn’t come out.”

Steve grabs a tissue and holds it under Peter’s nose and instructs him to try again. The kid was right and barely anything comes out. Steve sits down by him and presses his lips to his forehead. 

“You don’t feel warm. But maybe we should have a doctor look at you anyway,” Steve says worried.

“No hospital. I’m fine.”

“Peter—”

Peter’s lip quivers and big fat tears roll down his face. “I never want to go back!”

Steve’s chest feels tight as he watches his son upset like that, seeing the deep purple bruise sticking out of the top of his t-shirt made him feel worse. A reminder of the emergency CPR performed on him after being pulled from the creek. He pulls his crying child into his lap and up against his body. He rubs Peter’s back as the child sobs into his shoulder. Steve closes his eyes and tries to ignore the negative thoughts. He couldn’t help feeling like it was all his fault. How did he not know his son was missing?

“Jesus Steve, what did you do? Pinch him?” Tony teases as he walks into the room dressed only in his boxers. It pulls Steve out of his thoughts and he gives Tony a dirty look.

“Nothing. I’m just worried about his breathing and suggested seeing a doctor—”

“No!” Peter howls. “No more hospitals!”

“I’m sure I can pay someone to make a private house visit,” Tony says watching them with concern.

“Please,” Steve says as he tries to calm Peter.

Tony grabs a sucker from the kitchen and is unwrapping it as he walks back to the couch. He shoves it into Peter’s mouth. It immediately drops out sticking to Steve’s white shirt. “Oh god, Tony? Why?”

Peter snatches it up ignoring the microfibers now stuck to it. He starts to suck on it. A light pink stain is now on Steve’s shirt.

“He’s quiet now.”

“Tony, he’s really congested.”

“JARVIS, call the pediatrician and see if we can get someone out on a house visit. Send them Peter’s hospital records.”

 

****

Peter curls up on the couch as Tony washes the dishes from breakfast. Steve is in the laundry room switching the loads. Tony finishes the dishes and joins Peter on the couch. He helps him to sit up and starts to look him over. Peter fusses and tries to push himself further into the couch cushion as if he could disappear. For over twenty-four hours someone had been poking and prodding at him. In the hospital the nurses were in his room every hour to check his vitals. Since he returned home he hadn’t had a moment alone. One of his parents was always right by him. His eyes are pulled shut tightly so he doesn’t notice Tony unscrewing the top to the a bottle of medicine. Tony uses the eye dropper to measure out the correct dose. They had been instructed to do the first dose after breakfast.

“Peter, open your mouth for me.”

“What?”

Medicine dropper is shoved in and Tony presses down on the bubble. Peter starts to whimper as the liquid sloshes precariously in his mouth. “Swallow it. If you spit it out you’re going in the corner.”

With a sob Peter swallows the bitter medicine before hiding his face against the arm of the couch. He flinches as he feels Tony grab him under the arms and turn his body so he’s facing him. 

“No Peter, come on. Let’s get you dressed.”

Steve comes in the room with a laundry basket on his hip. He sits it on the table and it’s full of Peter’s freshly washed clothes. He starts to dig through it, “should we just leave him in pajamas? We’re not going anywhere.”

“What do you think, Pete?” Tony asks as he pulls his shirt over his head before instructing Peter to lift his hips so he can slide his pants off next.

“I want to go to the ice cream place. The one where you pick the toppings.”

“Pinkberry?”

“Yeah, I want to go there,” Peter says as Tony dresses him in shorts and a t-shirt. He doesn’t put up a fuss like he usually would if one of his parents tried to dress him. He was a big boy and didn’t need help like a baby. Peter jumps off the couch and quickly regrets it as he starts to feel dizzy. The medications were still making him feel strange. He reaches out and grabs Tony’s knee to steady himself.

“Too much whiskey, son?” Tony says as he grabs his shoulder. 

Steve laughs at the little joke they make when Peter does anything in particularly clumsy manner.

“I’m not drinking. It’s the pills.”

“We didn’t give you pills,” Steve says as he sits down and puts his arm around Tony. Peter climbs into Tony’s lap.

“Daddy, I’m cold and my head feels funny,” Peter complains. “I don’t like the medicine.”

Tony pulls Peter closer and Steve leans into them more.

 

*****

 

Peter is less upset about seeing the doctor now that he’s full of ice cream. He sits in the middle of his bed as the doctor starts going through her exam. Steve sits on the end of the bed so Peter doesn’t feel like his parents are out of reach. Tony is standing at the end of the bed. 

“I’m going to listen your chest. Will you take a deep breath for me when I ask?”

Peter looks at her uncertain and doesn’t do anything to reply. The doctor slips the stethoscope earpieces into her ears before warming the chest piece with her hands. “Sorry it may be a little cold,” She warns before pulling up his shirt and placing it against a spot on his back.

“Deep breath please, Peter.”

Peter doesn’t do it and the doctor looks up at him from her seat. “Just try. It doesn’t matter if it’s not that deep.”

Peter just stares at her and continues to not listen.

“Peter, you have to do as the doctor says,” Tony says as he walks closer to them.

Peter looks up at Tony and considers what he says before he starts listening to the doctor. He makes it through the breath sounds and her looking into his ears and nose. He says ‘ahh’ when she puts the tongue depressor in his mouth. 

“No,” Peter says as the doctor pulls out a large cotton swab to swab the back of his throat to test for strep.

“Try again, Peter,” Tony says.

“What if you sit in your dad’s lap while I do the swab?“

Tony sits on the bed by Steve. “Come on Pete. Sit in my lap.”

Peter climbs onto his lap and Tony puts his arms around him. Steve rubs his shoulder and assures him it only be uncomfortable for a couple seconds. After being convinced by his parents he lets the doctor perform the test. 

The doctor puts the swab back in the tube and looks at Peter. “We have one more test buddy and that’s it. Okay?”

He whines and leans back into Tony but nods his head.

“It’s a finger prick. It will only hurt for a second.”

Tony holds Peter’s wrist still so the doctor can prick his finger. He lets out a little cry and turns his head to the side as she collects his blood. By the time he turns back she is wrapping his finger in an adhesive bandage. 

“All done,” the doctor says as she pulls a sucker from her bag as offers it to Peter.

Peter holds his hand out for it but doesn’t look at her. He little fingers grasps around the stick.

“What do you say Peter?”

“Thank you.”

“He doesn’t have a fever so I suspect he is just getting a cold. I don’t think it’s pneumonia. That’s what you need to be worried about after a near drowning incident. I’d recommend a lot of rest and fluids. He’s going to continue to be irritable and that’s completely normal considering. Just be patient with him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was hard to write but it's done and I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> \-----
> 
> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
> Feedback
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
> 

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> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.
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> Note: If you don’t want a reply, for any reason (sometimes I feel shy when I’m reading and not up to starting a conversation, for example), feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sad to see this come to a close but all things have an end. Thanks to everyone that stuck around and read this to the end. I hope y’all enjoy it.

A few months have passed and Peter was doing well with recovery. Luckily there was no brain damage and his health had returned to normal. Steve still took him to weekly appointments to see the psychiatrist. They had a follow-up appointment with a specialist at the local hospital that he was dreading. Any mention of doctors or hospitals put Peter into a panic. It took forever to calm him back down. Steve had discussed it with the psychiatrist and there was a plan in place.

Steve and Tony were working hard at putting the whole incident behind them. Many things had returned back to normal. While Tony returned to his Stark Industries duties right when they returned, Steve took more time off. Each night before bed, he would give Peter his bath. Steve used to set him up in the bath and leave to do other things. Finish the dishes in the sink or do some sweeping up. Now he stayed in there the whole time. After a week of watching Peter closely he returned to the satellite SHIELD office in NYC. The call from Agent Coulson was welcome because the information he could provide would allow them some closure.

 

*****

Steve greets Agent Coulson as he steps out of the elevator into the Penthouse. Coulson had called earlier and said he needed to stop by to discuss something with Tony and Steve. 

“Sorry Tony is still in his lab. Hey FRIDAY, ask Tony to come up here.”

“I’m sorry, Boss doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

“Fuck that,” Steve mumbles to himself. “Tell him I’m coming downstairs with Agent Coulson.”

Tony’s voice comes over the speaker. “I’ll be up there in 5 minutes, Steve. Offer him water or coffee or something.”

Steve sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “Hey Pete, come over here. I have someone for you to meet.”

Peter leaves the spot on the floor where he’s playing with his toys and walks up to his father. He shyly grabs his hand as he looks up nervously at Coulson.

“This is someone Papa works with. His name is Phil Coulson.”

“Hey there,” Coulson says as he offers his hand. “What your name?”

Peter looks up at Steve before accepting the handshake. “Peter,” he says quietly.

“That’s a nice name. You look like you’re going to grow big and strong like your Papa one day.”

Peter smiles and blushes before hiding his face against Steve’s stomach.

“Why don’t you show Phil your new Lego set while I make some coffee?”

Peter looks at Phil shyly before offering his hand and leading him into the living-room where they sit on the rug.

Tony is exiting the elevator as Steve finishes setting the table for coffee. He places the metal carafe of coffee down and smiles over at his husband. Tony returns the smile before speaking. 

“I’m hoping you came here for more than playtime with my kid, Agent.”

Phil stands up, grabs his briefcase and walks over to the table. He sets two folders on the table as the other two men make cups of coffee. He makes a cup for himself before he opens the top folder.

“As you’ll remember we set up a team to investigate after the debriefing at the SHIELD office. Peter gave a rather interesting account of supernatural beings in the home. We have reason to believe he was telling the truth. We found evidence that an Asgardian demon was living on the property. You’ve heard of Kitsune in Japanese mythology, right?”

“Yes,” Tony says while Steve tells him he hasn’t.

“It’s a fox demon. Sounds cute but they’re wicked things. We believe this thing to be closely related or an actual Kitsune. They can appear as human as they did with Peter. Usually with ill intent. They’ve been known to lead people astray and to their death. We believe it intended to kill Peter just as it had done with that family twenty years ago.”

“Wait. I thought the father killed the family.”

“Another ability they have is possession and I believe that is what happened to the family. It could have been seeking revenge. It ranges from petty like being disturbed during a nap to something like a cub being killed. Perhaps they were having issues with foxes being pests on the property and the man shot one. We think with your case that you may have disturbed their nest walking through the woods,” Phil says as he passes around various pages. Careful to hand them to Steve because he remembers Tony’s odd dislike of being handed things.

“We believe it was attempting to possess you and Tony but it failed. It was definitely the cause of the blackouts you described.”

“Peter said a woman helped him in the woods. Was that another Kitsune?” Tony asks as he sets down one of the pages.

“Quite the opposite. It was a member of the Asgardian royal family and a sister to your teammate Thor.”

“A sibling besides Loki? I hope she isn’t a Loki 2.0.”

“I met her briefly. If I had to compare her to another Asgardian I’d say she is more like Lady Sif,—” Phil passes a piece of paper over, “—we debriefed her on the incident. She claimed the demon attacked her as she tried to lead Peter back home. She told Peter to run and pointed him in the way of the house. She’s quite young and was struggling to fight with the demon. She summoned the Bifröst to take the demon back to Asgard. She was quite upset when she heard of Peter’s near-drowning. We believe she genuinely meant no harm.”

“Why was she in the forest and not on Asgard?”

“She’s the goddess of the forest. She often appears to those lost in the woods and brings them home. There’s been sightings of her for hundreds of years. Sometimes she appears much younger especially when she’s helping a child. We’ve classified her as fairly harmless. She is a daughter of Odin so that alone puts her on a watchlist.”

“Interesting. Another thing though, Peter said he was seeing ghosts. Was he?”

“Yes, we found evidence of ghosts in the house.”

“Are you saying ghosts are real? Really?” Steve asks shocked.

Coulson nods and takes a drink from his mug.

“We kept telling Peter it was his imagination. He was so upset and trying to tell us,” Steve says as he glances over to their son who is immersed in some nature program.

Tony’s loud ringtone breaks their concentration. He glances at the screen and excuses himself. “It’s Pepper,” he whispers to Steve before answering it and heading to his office.

“It’s natural. Any parent would have done the same in your place. “

Steve starts to return the papers to the folders, having enough of revisiting that incident.

“What’s this next folder, Phil?”

“There’s another kid we’re looking to get fostered. Child of a SHIELD agent. Someone left her in the daycare at SHIELD and never came back. Parents are dead. Steve opens the folder and is frozen with shock. There’s a little girl with blonde hair and brown eyes.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Steve reaches for his wallet in his back pocket and starts to pull out pictures. He finds one that is worn and yellowing. Black and white. A little girl. It looks almost identical to the picture in the folder. “This is a picture of my mom,” Steve says turning it over showing where it says Sarah and the year 1900. 

“We ran her DNA after she was brought in. She’s your child. About two years younger than Peter.”

Steve looks sadly down at the picture and starts to read through the folder.

“Beverly Rose,” he reads aloud. He reads over the birthdate. “This was a little after Tony and I got together. Is she mine as in the woman I was dating before? I mean is she Julia’s kid? Julia was pregnant when we broke up?”

“Yes,” Coulson says. “She fell in with Hydra but remained working at SHIELD. Her whole mission may have been to date you and get pregnant. We’re thinking she had second thoughts about letting them experiment on her daughter. She was left at the daycare facility and no-one realized anything was off until she wasn’t picked up that night. By the time we tracked her parents down the next morning they were already dead.”

Steve shakes his head as he continues flipping through the pages.

“I thought you had a right to know and should have first choice in getting custody of her.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

“I’m sure you’ll want to discuss this all with Tony.”

“Is she in D.C.? Can I see her?”

 

 

Tony, Steve, and Peter will return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am extremely busy this month so it might be a bit before I start my next work. I have wedding planning to do. My fiancée and I are also having a new house built. In additional to that I’m in a community play. We’re also selling my fiancée’s condo. 
> 
>  
> 
> [Kitsune Info](https://www.tofugu.com/japan/kitsune-yokai-fox/)  
> [Mythological Creatures](http://listverse.com/2009/10/26/10-mythological-creatures-and-shapeshifters/)
> 
>  
> 
> ________________
> 
> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
> Feedback
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.
> 
> Note: If you don’t want a reply, for any reason (sometimes I feel shy when I’m reading and not up to starting a conversation, for example), feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!


	9. Update

Hey y'all. Not a new chapter just an update. I've posted the next story in this series. Please go check it out.

I've created a tumblr, please follow me: [pinkhairnoshoes](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pinkhairnoshoes)

I'll be posting my stories there and previews of stories I'm working on.


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